GREAT EGGFLY

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Hypolimnas bolina bolina (Common Name: Great Eggfly) at the Fruits and Flowers garden this morning. The host name is supposedly the Sweet Potato plant (Scientific Name: Ipomoea batatas; Family: Convolvulaceae). 

Today is a great day!

BUTTERFLY GARDEN

These are some of the flying beauties in the Butterfly Garden. Enjoy the feast for the eyes!

The 1st photo was of a Jacintha Eggfly that was near its end with its tattered and torn wings. The dark coloured wings contrasted drastically against the yellow Crotalaria flowers.

The 2nd photo was of a brown Chocolate Pansy perched on the variegated yellow Graptophyllum.

The 3rd was a Leopard Lacewing with opened pumpkin-orange black wings on the green leaves of the Clerodendrum paniculatum.

Then there was the beautiful Grey Pansy sitting on the yellow flowers of the Ixora.

The pair of Eggflys with brown underside wings were probably trying to get it on with each other under the leaves of the Ixora.

The 6th photo was of a Leopard Lacewing resting on the Terminalia mantaly leaves.

The last photo showed a Blue Glassy Tiger on top of a Common Sergeant on the Crotalaria plant.

FLORAL WALK

These photos were taken on 22 Jun 10.

It is testament that the Lantana camara is a good nectar plant for butterflies since it attracted the Jacintha Eggfly, Mottled Emigrant, Chocolate Pansy and Plain Tiger butterflies to congregate together to feed on its flowers.

RUELLIA REPENS

This Creeping Ruellia was found at the Irrigation Pond too.

It is a common garden weed but I chose to keep lots of weedy plants at the Irrigation Pond because they are host plants to the Peacock Pansy and Chocolate Pansy.

It reminds me slightly of the other common weed Asystasia gangetica (Chinese Violet) from the same Acanthaceae Family which is also a host plant to butterflies such as Great Eggfly, Jacintha Eggfly, Blue Pansy and Autumn Leaf.

NURSERY

Continuiing from the post on 2 May 10 at Cairns, we visited this nursery where I saw this beautiful Tibouchina tree, under which grew a peach-coloured flower Brugmansia cultivar. The contrast is so good. But as always, I think I was the only one amazed with it.

I liked the 2nd photo because it looked like a dry meandering river of silvery-leaved Gazania cultivars.

Then, there were these clumps of aquatic grasses and the one in the foreground had interesting flowers.

There was a black-white spider on a red-branched Euphorbia cultivar.

Finally, there was an Eggfly Butterfly on the lilac-flowered Pentas lanceolata.