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It is wonderful that you chose to highlight this plant and the insects that depend on it.
Sometimes unless a plant is beautiful people don't see the good that it was created for.
Josephine.
I love how you put it all together! I am on the same trail with the Vanessas here that use the Nettles. Apparently there are lots of this plant on our land in the Big Thicket, and I will be looking for some good specimens. The article was especially encouraging to me because I have been writing on similar subjects and doing some extensive research. Sometimes the technical gets all tangled up with my passion for these little fellas...
Now I don't feel like such a lone ranger with this sort of subject matter..
Great article! Hope you have more in store for us, Ken!
No, you're not alone in your interest of nettles, deb. I was trying to learn more about them too, so I was so happy to see Kennedyh's good article on them!
Now, I'm wondering how they can best be used in the butterfly garden...not sure how to work that out...
Judy, (In my case) I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'm thinking I can find a corner somewhere. A spot where there isn't any foot traffic. I wouldn't want it spreading around too much, so I would set some sort of barrier for it. Other than that, I will have to get back to you on it when I embark on the whole project.
Ken surely has some better answers to your question, though I believe he said those patches are out and off of his land in "Morwell National Park in Victoria, Australia", where he checks on them frequently.
In any case, care must be taken when considering how to plant it, especially handling it, I'm using gloves for sure). Maybe in a pot or two would be a kinder way, as in 100 years who knows what it will do...
Well, I didn't check plant files before I posted above and I guess I should have.
Before kennedyh's article 'who knew' about the nettle?! At least I didn't know anything but others did, I guess...
Baa wrote up a wonderful Plant Files post on the the common nettle listing all kinds of attributes for it-- tea, cheeses, fabric dye, to name just a few. Further along on the thread, someone else suggests its use placed under windows as a burglar deterrent! So I have some good ideas for use/placement in the yard! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1958/
I always get thistle and nettle mixed up, so after reading Plant Files I also think that I got nettle seed included in a load of compost I had delivered a couple of years ago. It was a head ache to have around and get rid of, but I got lots of painted ladies that year...
Exactly what butterflies like the nettles? (Vanessas are painted ladies, right?)
Yes Josephine, probably so... Wildflower site is great, a lot of great information there now. They did leave out the Painted Lady though. (Vanessa cardui).
I only posted the site there for the other Nettle, because I was perusing for the kind that might be native to Ohio...
If the False Nettle is just as good, I would prefer it. My little chihuauah might get it on him, because he goes all over the back yard.
Another good host looks like Texas Thistle, (Judy I can see why it is easy to mix those up). Painted Lady has over 100 plants they will use for oviposition.
Thank you all for your appreciation. I really enjoyed (despite a few nettle stings), rearing these caterpillars through to adulthood.
As to growing them in the garden, I can't help at all, although the whole process of rearing them and writing the article have got me thinking that perhaps I should find a corner in the garden for a few nettles. As debnes says, the nettles that I mainly see are in Morwell National Park near here, although they are very common in moist forest throughout the region. I have none in my garden, although I do sometimes get visited by the Australian Admiral butterflies.
When we had our house built, this was a bare paddock, and mistletoe isn't something you can choose to plant in the garden. We did plant a lot of trees and shrubs and quite early on, a Mistletoe Bird must have brought a mistletoe seed to a Black Wattle we had grown. We now have Mistletoe growing on several trees, mainly Acacias in the garden and more than once the Imperial Whites have reared their young on our mistletoes and I have been able to photograph them at all stages from egg through to butterfly, although I still wait for a chance to photograph a male Imperial White with its wings spread!
frostweed, interesting to learn that your False Nettle is another host plant for the Red Admiral, although I see it is in the same Urticaceae family.
We have a stingless nettle here, the Shade Nettle Australina pusilla: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/115681/
also in the urticaceae, but I have no information as to whether the butterflies use them as an alternative host plant. They are actually quite pleasant to eat as a salad.
Interesting how you got the mistletoe to grow in your garden, Kennedy. And, of course, the Imperial White. Very nice photos, too.
The Great Purple Hairstreak, a rather rare butterfly here in Ohio, also uses the mistletoe for a host plant. Mistletoe is found growing in Oak trees near the Ohio River, but I have never found any (we live near the river)...
Back to the nettles and thistles--that false nettle, frostweed, looks like one I could use in the butterfly garden without impaling myself!
Ken~
I can easily see why you feel the way you do about the Imperial White... It is an adorable little butterfly. The host Drooping Mistletoe is a beautiful plant too.
If you ever need seeds for any of the plants we grow for butterflies, let me know. I would be happy to send you anything I have to test over there.
I thought the story about the Au Admiral eclosing in the house with Fay was so cute!! Many of us have had the same kind of thing, some extremely hilarious! It can be quite a circus trying to wrangle one off a high place to release it outside.
I wanted to ask you~ What were the particular 5 1/2 months for your Magpie moth in the chrysalis?
I have various Swallowtails that are in diapause for that long and longer, only it's from latter fall through winter... (It is very interesting to keep track of which butterflies overwinter, which ones migrate, and which overwinter as adults.)
I have read of stinging nettle extract used for allergy treatment. I haven't tried. I can't imagine talking my kids into taking something with Stinging in the name.
kennedyh- I really enjoyed your article, both the topic and story and your writing.
debnes,
It was the Magpie Moth that was 5 1/2 months from my first catching the caterpillars to the evential energence of the moth.
The Aus Admiral, I caught as a caterpillar, and the very next day it became a pupa and I only had to wait twp weeks from then before we had a butterfly flying around the house!
Okay, Thanks! What season was the chrysalis in diapause? That was mainly what I wanted to know. Was it like Feb - July? That would be your colder time, wouldn't it?
I found the caterpillars in early spring, at the end of August. They pupated at the end of September, and then spent the rest of the spring and most of the summer as a pupa, with the moths emerging 10th February towards the end of summer. I would guess that this species overwinters as eggs, which hatch and start feeding at the start of spring, when the stinging nettles are growing fresh shoots and leaves,
I have another use for Stinging Nettle. I buy Stinging Nettle capsules at the health food store when I start to get itchy eyes in the spring. Take 3 the first day and taper off after that. Wonderful find. After all the times I've had skin irritation from Nettles, I couldn't believe I was putting that in my stomach, but had no ill effects.
