Monday I saw my first swallowtail on a parsley plant, which overwintered the entire winter this year in my herb bed, with another. The flowers are just opening, and the butterflies love them, and eventually there will be caterpillars on the plant - the only reason I left it! Dill is another plant they like. I have 8 dill plants started for them, and any volunteers I leave growing for them.
First swallowtail I've seen on the parsley, which has just opening flowers. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Swallow caterpillar on dill, 9-11-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Black swallowtail caterpillar on dill, 9-11-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The black swallowtails were out and about today.

Gee, I hope there’s enough fennel.
These guys must have intense UV protection to be just fine sitting out in the Florida sun all day long.

Final touch will be marigolds as soon as they get 1 more pair of leaves.
Buzz Magenta butterfly bush, 2 kinds of milkweed and some lantana.

The hummers have been visiting these painted tongue flowers. They seem to be showing up on flowers I've never seen them on. Coreopsis and nasturtium are seeing activity along with the usual salvias and petunia. More hummers everyday now. The babies must be up and flying.

Spooky started this thread about the time this site took off. Great to see what's going on in the bug and bird gardens. Thanks to all.

This butterfly was on the ruellia (Mexican petunia) this morning. It looks black in regular lighting, but when bright sun is shining on it it looks more brown. I'm pretty sure this is a Spicebush Swallowtail, a butterfly that is supposed to be common in my area.

Next month the Monarch butterflies should be starting their fall migration and passing through this area. They love ruelia.

The hummers are so active its hard to figure what flowers they visit most. Lately the white salvia seems to bring a lot birds. Some of the reds but the darker flowered salvia not so much. They are very honed into the bugs right now.

While I was at the nursery, I noticed two new cupheas that I hadn't seen before. They both look similar to Honeybells. I picked up 4-in pots of each.

Hummingbird's Lunch: Funny Face:
You can't tell from the photo but if you Google Funny Face it has two tiny bat-like ears on each blossom.

A few of the David Verity Cuphea look like they aren’t coming back from the freeze so I may try a new one. @SpookyShoe did any of your Cuphea survive?

I had a Vermillionaire that didn't make it. Also I still have three Mexican Heather plants in the ground. One of them is showing a little regrowth from the roots. The other two might be dead but I'm going to wait a while before I pull them up. When the Mexican Heather is in bloom the bees go mad for it.
If they're dead it's not a tragedy. MH common to find in nurseries here and I'll have no problem replacing the dead ones.

Right, I lost too many things to count with the arctic freeze and I thought my mexican heather was a gonner too. I started watering it and saw some green so I trimmed all the dead off and it is all flowering now. I have 6 plants and haven't seen a bee yet, but I know they will be coming soon. I need them since there are peas blooming, cucumbers growing, and tomatoes setting.

@SpookyShoe please keep us updated on your Funny Face. I grew it a few years ago. Mine was not a strong plant and was a stingy bloomer so I really did not think too much of it but weak plants do not leave one with good impressions.

The Funny Face is still quite small as I got it as a starter plant about 10 days ago. I agree that it's a wispier plant than other cupheas such as Honeybells and Hummingbirds' Lunch. However it has put on a lot of blooms.

Various cupheas.... most are hummingbird favorites, but the dwarf Mexican Heather attracts bees.

Cubano Cristo
Bat Face
David Verity
Dwarf Mexican Heather
Funny Face

Overrun by hummers. 4 feeders are being consumed very fast. The neighbors bees find them no matter where they're placed. Interesting to see how the birds deal with them. The aggressive ones will buzz the feeder to move the bees, feed and do it again. It's honey time this weekend and I gave them 2 half gallon jars to load up for me. Having a few hundred thousand bees around is always a good thing.

I was at my favorite plant nursery and saw two cuphea that I had never seen before. Both have the growth habit and similar appearance to Honeybells (which I have).

Sugarbells: Cherrybells:

I wasn't that attracted to the white Sugarbells, but I did pick up one of the Cherrybells plants. The Cherrybells is more of a red orange than a cherry color. It's very similar to the color of David Verity, but it has some white on the edge of the cup.

Saw first hummingbird of the 2024 fall migration 2 days ago on the Mystic Spies salvia. Put two feeders out.

Our hummers are about to head your way. There are a lot less than there were. They usually start leaving between now and Sep 10th but we keep a feeder out for any stragglers that pass through.