Forgot to post yesterday, took pictures though and butterfly trivia

 I remember going to the garden yesterday and watering and took pictures but had to go out on errands immediately after so forgot to post here.

I picked the zucchini but it was still a little yellow on the underside so it should have stayed on another day. The next tomato isn't quite ready and more pollination today!

Colors are always funky with different lighting. Oh well. When I checked the zucchini today there are three incoming females and no male flowers. Go figure! I managed to scavenge one flower to pollinate the flower on the right in the picture.

Torn open to pollinate

Tomato almost ready

And here is the weather and our inside temp after running the AC and fans for three hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12:25 pm and I just came inside from being in the garden. We have two thermometers, one in the main hallway, close to the middle of the apartment and the other by the kitchen window that gets little airflow and maximum reflected heat when the sun gets over the building. Before we left it was 78 and we did our set up because we knew it would be this hot by the time we got home.

So now that running around is done, we're inside for the remainder of the day.

Now on to butterfly trivia.

If you sometimes wonder why you only see certain butterflies more in a certain time of year here ya go. Butterflies time their migration and emergence to when their preferred flowers and plants are abundant. So in my area (San Diego in general), the first ones that are obvious to be seen late spring are the Monarchs, which is when milkweed is starting to grow and flower. Many nurseries don't have the space or money to provide hundreds of plants, but WAN does, every year. I mentioned and had pictures of how many they had earlier. Skipper butterflies that I've mentioned also are early in the year as well. They prefer meadows and grassy areas so that's why they aren't seen as much. Swallowtails start showing up as well, depending on what is growing. Swallowtails are either here for dill/parsley/fennel or citrus trees depending on the species.

There are a few cabbage butterflies as well, the medium size white ones who lay eggs on anything and everything related to cabbage/mustard/lettuce, you name it. Considered a pest in a veggie garden for sure.

Next are smaller ones like  Checkerspots, more skippers and the Fritillaries that favor passionfruit vines when those are starting to flower. Typically you don't see particular butterflies until their preferred plant is growing or blooming so right now I'm seeing a lot of Clouded Sulphur, medium size yellow butterflies that prefer to lay eggs and feed on Cassia trees and bushes. Coincidentally, for evolution reasons I guess, they all have yellow flowers.

It's a good idea if you're trying to attract butterlies (I've gone over this previously) plant a variety of flowers and trees if possible to attract a wider range of pollinators to your yard.

A few years ago there was a major migration of Painted Lady butterflies and it was wondrous to see drifts of butterflies moving through the canyon and neighborhoods.

Meanwhile in the middle of summer right now I've seen a monarch or two, a swallowtail here and there, cabbage whites, and because there is a cassia tree down the street, there were several Sulphurs flitting around the neighborhood.

Going to be trying to eat my tomatoes and zucchini today. I bought more ranch dressing and have some salad greens left, wonderful for a hot summer day. That's all I've got for today, hoping the pollination took and waiting for the weather to cool down, likely not until next week or middle of next month reliably. And by cooler I mean not in the 90's.