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Published Friday, February 5, 2021
Birds and Butterflies
By Victoria Torley
We have a Porter's weed bush next to the entrance of the driveway, one of the pink ones, although the deep purple is lovely, and I have been watching the successive play of butterflies on it. Funny that I hadn't noticed before how separate and distinct they are.
Back in December, there were small yellow butterflies. There were clouds of them and they played and danced all over the bush. Then, as suddenly as they came, they were gone and the plant was lonely for a while. Then, in January, came lovely black butterflies with a single black spot on each wing. They dined and danced on the bush but the numbers seem to be fading now. I wonder what will shop up next?
Then there is my blue skies bush. Since that is down the hill, I don't get to watch it as closely but for at least a month, it dances with large yellow butterflies. Then it produces bright orange berries and attracts birds of all kinds.
People often ask me how they can attract butterflies and these two bushes are excellent examples. Of course, if you want to attract bats and moths, you need angel trumpet bushes.
And what about attracting birds, especially toucans and aracari? For them, you need other things. Things like bananas. Birds love bananas, especially when you slice them into delicious bites first so they don't have to work for a meal. The same is true of papaya. That outer peel is too hard for beaks. To feed the flock, cut that papaya into small pieces. Mushy melon, overripe and no longer tasty, is just fine for a toucan.
Oddly, toucans can eat not just the fruit from the cashew tree but also the raw nut! It swallows them whole and goes away satisfied. People, on the other hand, find them toxic unless specially prepared.
When you look at a toucan, the beak is probably the thing you notice first. It looks so strong, like it can tear things to bits. Not so. That beak, and the beak of an aracari, is as delicate as fine china. A careless stone can shatter it and leave the bird to starve to death. No stone throwing near a toucan, please.
Other birds? Back to the blue sky bush and just about anything with little seeds.
Now if we could just find something to eat leaf cutter ants . . .
Plant for the Week
Well, I admit that this week's plant, the orchid tree, hasn't been covered with butterflies or had fruit eaten by toucans, but it is a lovely plant to have in the yard. The orchid tree isn't related to orchids and, although it is tree shaped as opposed to shrub-shaped, mine has not gotten very large, although they can grow to ten meters. It is also said to have scented flowers, but mine, not so much. Still, in the right sunny spot, it is a lovely garden plant.
For more information on this article Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com.
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