Dec 9, 2009

Thank the Teak

Your garden becomes complete only when the winged and beaked friends visit it, wouldn't you say? I longed for this for long! I was envious when I saw a butterfly in a pathetic looking plant on the roadside or in others' gardens. Of course one or two butterflies would visit Plantville for a fleeting moment and whiz away as if saying, "This place isn't interesting enough." There were very few wasp visits and an occasional bee or two, but this year things changed., especially with the arrival of Sarad.
There was suddenly a flush of butterflies flying around. Remember the lazy gardener becoming busy with his camera and watching his flowers and butterflies? Yes, these beauties kept me busy. There were many different kinds of them, right from small to medium sized (I am yet to see a large one) ones. Below you'd see some of the shots that I took this month. I was too busy watching them that I didn't take shots of other beautiful ones during the early Autumn.
With the addition of Jasmines to the garden, these butterflies finally considered that Plantville was worth a visit. These tiny bees went mad at the Leucas. And these kings with blue spots seemed to have increased in population! And this teeny shy guy was just sitting on the parapet wall, thinking if he should enter the city and he eventually did in the days to come. There were others too, like the brown ones, tiny yellow ones, black ones with white dots, and few others, but I was too slow for them. I hope I get to capture them in future.
Two weeks ago, I noticed that the new Dwarf Crape Jasmine that I introduced to Plantville started looking pathetic.
Trying to find out who the culprit was, I discovered this! I was excited. I was almost sure that it was a caterpillar (Isn't it?) because it's not there anymore. Did it become a flying beauty now? I hope it was a caterpillar, because I it feed on that cute plant.
Few days ago, I saw a flush of butterflies - especially the black ones with blue spots, in Plantville and I realized that the Teak tree in my neighbor's plot was in bloom!
Later I realized that most of the butterflies visit that tree and then my garden. Well, thanks to the teak that my garden is becoming complete!
Speaking of butterflies, I thought I'd also share some other butterfly pictures from my recent trip to Trichy. We went to a temple near Trichy
where there was a garden space around it, well, part of it was wild and there was such an assortment of butterflies fluttering about crazily and I was doing so too and managed to get a few decent shots.

23 comments:

PJ said...

What a lovely post! Butterflies are so beautiful, and moths are just butterflies with bad dress sense. :)

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Good Morning - Amazing Chandramouli, what a great start of this day!

Unknown said...

Your butterfly shots are amazing! Glad to see you again in blogdom:)

Randy Emmitt said...

Chandramouli,
Glad to see you back! The last photo those butterflies are laying eggs! The blooms on the teak tree remind me of our Devil's Walking Stick's blooms. The blooms are over the top of the under growth and lots of butterflies love them.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I'm glad you're back too. Thanks for visiting my blog too!
You did get some beautiful butterflies in your garden. It does make the garden feel complete when you start getting such pretty visitors.

Marion said...

What amazingly beautiful shots of the butterflies and moths! I don't see many blue butterflies in my area, so they're a real treat to see them at your place. Thanks for sharing with us. I'm so happy you're back!!! Blessings!

Chandramouli S said...

That's a cool way of saying it, Prue. Thank you.

I'm glad I started your day with a good one, Tyra.
Thank you, Kanak. I'm lucky that I'm able to get some decent shots of them. I guess it's because of their frequent visits.

Laying eggs! That's a good news, Randy. Thank you.

Ahh! You're becoming a great blogger, Catherine and a gardener too. I love visiting yours. You're an inspiration. I'm a fan of your pond - god, I'd have told that a ten time now! But I can't stop myself. I love your pond so!

My pleasure, Marion. Thank you :)

Antigonum Cajan said...

A caterpillar
may not be the culprit
since there seems to
be traces of some spider
thread, when one looks
carefully...Also, the leave
seems a little bended
at the edges, another sign
of something else.

Chandramouli S said...

The leaf curls stopped, AC. I am guessing that it's the caterpillar spinning its cocoon, but I could be wrong.
Yea, spiders are a huge problem here. I'm having hard time controlling them.

walk2write said...

I've never thought about teak trees blooming so lavishly. What sort of fruit do they produce? Your butterfly pics are amazing! I wouldn't worry about the spiders. They're a natural form of pest control. I love to find them in my garden. They're also interesting subjects for photos.

Christine B. said...

Thanks for the visual respite on a cold, snowy day. Love the turquoise and brown butterfly, I've never seen anything like it here in Alaska.

Christine

Chandramouli S said...

W2W: They produce berry-like round green fruits and germination of teak is mostly through seeds. In fact the butterflies seemed to have helped in their pollination and the tree is mostly covered with fruits. I'll post its pictures in my next post.
I still am nervous about spiders, because I see that certain plants have rally tiny green and yellow spiders that seem to eat the leaves! I still am not sure, but yes, they definitely make great subjects for photos due to their varied colors!

Christine B.: Those turquoise dotted butterflies seem new here too, as I've never seen them before! Thank you, hope you liked the stay.
BTW, it was interesting to know that Alaska is mostly dark this time of the year. To me it sounds interesting - driving to and back from work in dark! That's adventurous but I guess you're tired of it.

walk2write said...

I think those tiny green and yellow creatures might be some sort of mites, close cousins to spiders but not true spiders. I look forward to more posts about the teak trees and the critters, even if they are pests! I do hope they will leave your plants alone, though.

Sunita Mohan said...

Lucky you! That's a lot of b'flies and very pretty ones too. I wouldn't worry about the caterpillars too much. If you want the b'flies, I guess we have to put up with a few raggedy leaves now and then.
I love that last photo.

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

thank you Chandramouli for this year 2009, so many fascinating post! See you soon in the next decade :-)

Happy New Year/ XXX and blessings/ Tyra

Petra B. Keramik+Trädgården said...

Hello Chandramouli, It´s been a while since i visitet your blogg.
Wonderfull butterflies in a amazing garden. I want to wish you a Happy New Year.
Best regards, Petra B.

Skeeter said...

If you plant it, they (butterflies) will come! It is very difficult to capture a butterfly on camera as they are so busy fluttering about. You did a great job of snapping pics of them....

Ever Green Tree said...

The last picture is awesome.... with a whole lot of butterflies in the garden.... What colour and flutter! Nice!

A wildlife gardener said...

Happy New Year,Chandramouli S :)

Great to see you blogging again...

Beautiful butterflies...so lovely to have those around...

http://ourlittlecornerofparadise.blogspot.com/2010/01/importance-of-finding-beauty-in-light.html

tina said...

Hi Chandramouli, I hope you are doing well and still writing. Working on your book or just writing for yourself. Soon the butterflies will be in full force everywhere-it will be spring. A nice thing.

Jamie said...

Good to see you blogging again, Chandramouli. I'm always reluctant to harm any caterpillars too. 'They're just hungry children' I keep on telling myself.

Unknown said...

Hi mouli, Just now i came to know what is a blog... What u r mouli??? Amazing, Awesome...Lajawab... as i opened urs i felt as if i am in ur garden with those titaliyan.Keep in touch with me love to enjoy the beauty of ur heart(art)

Chandramouli S said...

My pleasure, Ma'am :)