New Moth Discovery

I was photographing some prairie natives this weekend and found this moth clinging to some Little Bluestem grass blades.

A large moth with soft yellow colored wings and brown spots. It could be one of two species in the Xanthotype genus, either X. sospeta (Crocus Geometer) or X. urticaria (False Crocus Geometer).

According to Moths & Caterpillars of the North Woods and BugGuide.net, identification to species is not possible except by examining the internal reproductive anatomy.

When I discover a new butterfly or moth species in the yard, I'm always curious what the larval host plants are and if I have any of them.

And it turns out I have quite a few for both of the these potential moth species.

The Crocus Geometer (Xanthotype sospeta) feeds on the following natives that I have in my yard: Red Maple, New Jersey Tea, Dogwood species, American Basswood, American Elm, Chokecherry and Nannyberry Viburnum.

The False Crocus Geometer (Xanthotype urticaria) feeds on the following natives that I have in my yard: Sweet Fern, Dogwood species, and Goldenrod species.

The Natural History Museum website has a host plant and butterfly/moth database that is very useful for cross-referencing.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/hostplants/search/index.dsml

Native Plant of the Week: Prairie Phlox ~ Phlox pilosa

Prairie Phlox ~ Phlox pilosa


Prairie Phlox has performed extremely well on our sunny, sandy hillside. A native phlox of taller stature than the commonly grown introduced creeping phlox, the flowers are equally as showy.

In our drier soils, it reaches about 12" in height, with a loamier location it can grow twice as tall. The linear, oppositely arranged leaves are very attractive and set off the bright pink to purplish 5 parted tubular flowers.

It's not the most popular plant for pollinators in the yard, as the Wild Lupine, Golden Alexander and Virginia Waterleaf are also flowering right now.

I have seen a few hummingbird moths visit the flower, bumble bees will investigate the flowers but move on without attempting to seek out a nectar reward in the tubular flowers.

I captured this muscid fly resting on the flowers but I'm not sure if it was seeking out any nectar that other insect visitors left behind.

I suspect other pollinators include butterflies and moths who can easily reach down the long tubes with their long proboscises.

Seeds form in hard light brown capsules which burst open dispersing the seed a good distance. If you want to collect the seed, make sure you monitor the capsules as they mature to catch them before splitting open.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Prairie phlox is native to eastern North America. See map for range.

Golden Alexander Faunal Associations

Golden Alexander ~ Zizia aurea


Golden Alexander has been a great performer in our yard on our sunny, sandy hillside. Flowering right now, it provides excellent early season color.

It's a taller perennial native, reaching heights of around 36" with bright yellow, umbel flowers. Plant in combination with Wild Lupines or Prairie Phlox which flower around the same time.

The number and variety of insect visitors to the Golden Alexanders has been fascinating to observe.

Many native bee species including Mining Bees (Andrena species) visit the flowers regularly.

Also three different species of Bumble Bees, the larger ones weigh down the flower heads as they land.

Several Syrphid (Flower) flies also like to visit the flowers.

With all the insect activity on the flowers above, the anthers and bits of pollen were falling to the leaves below where this tiny Sunflower Maggot fly was feeding.

Some of the first flowers I've seen the Northern Paper Wasp visit this spring were Golden Alexanders.

And a beautiful black and yellow, tube dwelling Mason Wasp (Euodynerus foraminatus) was also a common sight.

Many of the stems just below the flowerheads were covered in black aphids, sucking away on the plant juices and providing the tending ants with a nectar reward.

It didn't take long for the ladybird beetles to notice the aphids. Many were crawling around on top and below the flower heads checking out the aphid activity.

Just a day later, ladybird beetle eggs had been deposited near the aphid clusters. The hatching larvae love to feed on aphids. What good biological control in action.

This parasitic wasp was checking out the aphids as well, possibly preparing to parasitize the aphids or the soon to be hatching lady bird beetle larvae.

Golden Alexanders fall in the Carrot or Apiaceae family, which are one of several larval host plants for Swallowtail butterflies. I'll be watching for caterpillars soon.

Native Plant of the Week: Wild Lupine ~ Lupinus perennis

Wild Lupine ~ Lupinus perennis


Wild Lupine is in full bloom in our yard right now. This native Lupine is smaller than the non-native, naturalized Large-Leaved Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus), reaching heights of around 14 inches in our dry, sandy soil.

The palmately divided leaves are very attractive in their own right, offering a wonderful contrast to other native perennial foliage.

This is a great native for hot, dry sites and poor soils. Plant near the front or edge of your landscape so you can observe and enjoy all the different types of pollinators that visit the flowers.

Two species of Bumble Bees were visiting the flowers this week. Their large size makes nectaring on the flower a bit challenging, but their advantage over the smaller bees is they can easily pry apart the petals to reach inside the flowers.

The smaller Mason Bees (Osmia species) pry open the flowers with their rear legs, then use all six to keep it open so they can reach further inside the flower.

Mining Bees (Andrena species) also like visiting Wild Lupine flowers.

I also spotted a day flying Clearwing moth visiting the flowers. They will hover like Hummingbirds unfurling their long proboscis and inserting it into the flowers. With this sophisticated technique, there's no need for them to pry open the flowers.

Seeds form in hairy pods that are held upright on the stem. This is an easy plant to propagate from seed, cold stratify in moist sand in the fridge over the winter and scarify (scratch) the seed coat before planting in the spring.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Wild Lupine is native to eastern North America. See map for range.

Orange Sulphur Butterfly Seeking Native Host Plants

Orange Sulphur Butterfly ~ Colias eurytheme


A first sighting of the Orange Sulphur butterfly was in our yard last week. Another tattered female gliding over the prairie plants looking for host plants to lay her eggs upon.

Laying eggs on White Wild Indigo

I watched with curiosity what she would choose as these butterflies are host plant generalists - liking most plants falling in the Legume or Pea family (Fabaceae).

Wild White Indigo

The female laid eggs on two native perennials in our yard, the first - tiny seedlings of White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba).


Wild White Indigo has an open branching habit with gray-green palmately divided leaflets. It can grow from 3 - 6 feet in height depending on moisture and soil conditions.

Laying eggs on Canada Milk Vetch

Canada Milk Vetch

The other host plant of choice was Canada Milk Vetch seedlings (Astragalus canadensis). 

Both of these host plants are good candidates for sandy to loamy soils in full to partial sun.  Canada Milk Vetch is also a tall perennial growing up to 4 feet in height. The red stems and many leaflets make it a nice contrasting textured plant next to prairie grasses and larger leaved natives.

Native Plant of the Week: Woodland Phlox ~ Phlox divaricata

Woodland Phlox ~ Phlox divaricata


If you're looking for a showy, spring flowering woodland native to add color to your shady landscape, then Woodland Phlox is an excellent candidate.

The five parted light blue, white or pale purple colored flowers are extremely fragrant, rivalling the fragrance of lilacs.

This perennial has a spreading habit forming a nice cluster or mass. When in flower, it can reach heights of around 20" in rich mesic soils, but shorter in drier sites.

The Woodland Phlox in my own landscape does extremely well in the sandy, well drained soils in partial shade.

It works well in a woodland border, or intermixed with other shade tolerant woodland natives such as ferns, early meadow rue, and virginia waterleaf.

For a great color combination, combine with the bright yellow/orange flowers of Celandine Poppy ~ Stylophorum diphyllum (native to eastern North America).

I have observed Bumble Bees and Hummingbird Clearwing moths visiting the flowers of Woodland Phlox. The foliage (and flowers) can get browsed by herbivores, either deer or rabbits but I have not witnessed which is the culprit.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Woodland Phlox is native to eastern North America. See map for range.

American Lady Butterfly Seeking Native Host Plants

American Lady Butterfly ~ Vanessa virginiensis


Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Adding butterfly host plants to your landscape sometimes doesn't yield instant outcomes. But this week, planning and patience paid off.

A very tattered American Lady butterfly was flying around the yard checking out the plants in our prairie area. Migrating from the south she arrived on last legs ready to start the next generation.

She found two host plants, Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) and Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) and laid several eggs on each.

I'll be watching for signs of the spiny caterpillars who weave themselves into a feeding cocoon by tying up the host plant foliage around them. They will make several of these webbed feeding stations on each plant.

Read an earlier post about the host plant Pearly Everlasting.

Also an earlier post about the host plant Field Pussytoes.

Native Plant of the Week: Prairie Smoke ~ Geum triflorum

Prairie Smoke ~ Geum triflorum
The nodding pink flowers are maturing on the prairie smoke right now and attracting many native bees.

Prairie Smoke is more widely recognized for its fruiting stage when the dried, long pinkish styles blow in the wind.

A native of dry to mesic prairies, this is a great plant for well drained soils and sunny locations.

The attractive bright green basal foliage is fern-like and divided into many leaflets.

An old prairie with prairie smoke
seedheads in South Dakota

The five-parted flowerheads nod downwards and tip upwards as the flowers are setting seed.

Prairie Smoke growing in a
gravelly prairie in South Dakota

This is a great native to mass in designed landscapes near the front edge of a planting. It provides early season flowering and later the pink silky seedheads for interest.



The foliage greens up really quickly after the snow melt. Plant it intermixed with warm season native grasses that will emerge later in the spring for a layered effect.

The tiny Sweat Bees (Lasioglossum species) were pollinating the Prairie Smoke flowers this week.

And some of the first Bumble Bees were pollinating the Prairie Smoke flowers in the warm sunshine. You just have to listen for these big bees, as they loudly buzz pollinate the Prairie Smoke flowers.

Prairie Smoke is native to western North America and the northern midwest region. See map below for range.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Large Flowered Bellwort Insect Visitors

Large Flowered Bellwort ~ Uvularia grandiflora


The Large Flowered Bellwort is one of my favorite spring flowering natives. Bright yellow flowers twist and dangle downwards from 12" high stems.

The insects like this perennial woodland native too, it's offering a nectar reward unlike the Bloodroot and Rue Anemone flowering around the same time.

One interesting feature about this plant is that the stem looks as though it pierces through the leaf like an earring because the base of the leaf surrounds the stem.

Large Flowered Bellwort is found in mesic to dry woodlands. Deer do like to browse on the foliage so if you have an abundance of deer prepare to be disappointed one day when you discover this native has been browsed over night.

A large Mining Bee (Andrena subgenus Melandrena) resembling a bumble bee was a common visitor to the Bellwort flowers. Their hairy bodies help keep them warm in cooler spring temperatures.

Several smaller Andrena bees were flying around the flowers too, but most did not stop by for nectar as the flowers were being blown around by the wind.

A tiny red-eyed vinegar fly was curious about what the large Mining Bee was up to (look for the fly at the top of the opening). These flies will seek out nectar in the spring before their more favored meal of rotting fruit is available.

And a slightly larger fly species was looking for a way up into the flower to feed on some nectar.

Tiny Sweat bees (Lasioglossum species) were also abundant. More than one would emerge from the same flower.

A triangular shaped, three parted seed capsule will develop later in the summer. The seeds are dispersed by ants who are attracted to the protein-rich fleshy elaiosome that is attached to each seed.