Today’s blaug shall serve a DUAL PURPOSE. We are doing a
push related to butterflies at work, so I am going to update our terrible fact
sheet and create something mildly presentable.
Step One: Go through the the plant tables in the back of ‘Attracting Butterflies to your Garden’
by Hunt, Grund, Keane & Forrest. Jot down a list of the caterpillar food
plants that they list which we regularly stock, along with the caterpillars
they are most likely to attract.
Step Two: Select a few that you reckon you’ll have in stock
when the ad comes out, and write some danged plant blurbs! So here we go with
step two.
Chrysocephalum apiculatum is a grey-leafed groundcover or small
shrub to 40cm. It produces small yellow button flowers that retain much of
their colour when dry and give the plant its common name, Button Everlasting. It
is suitable for all soils short of Limestone, and all areas with 400mm of
rainfall or more. It is a primary food source for the caterpillars of the
Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi)
Poa poiformis, or the Coast Tussock-grass, is a tall, thick grass
of up to 1.2m height in good conditions. Occurring extensively along the SA
coastline, this attractive grass is also suitable for inland conditions.
Requires a rainfall of 350mm. It is a primary food source for the caterpillar
of the Mottled Grass-skipper (Anisynta
cynone).
Microlaena stipoides, or Weeping Rice-grass, is one of the few
local rhizomatous grasses. Rarely more than 40cm tall, and frequently
semi-prostrate, this lovely spreading grass is ideal for planting to create a ‘meadow’
effect. It will tolerate occasional foot traffic. In SA it occurs predominantly
in higher country, requiring a rainfall of 400mm annually. It tolerates most
soil types excluding limestone, but does best on forest loams. It is a great
food source for the caterpillar of the White-banded Grass-dart (Taractrocera papyria papyria).
Turns out the archive doesn't have good photos of grasses. So that is something to hunt for too.
I’m not going to do a whole lot more of this tonight, as I
should save some excitement for the
future, and honestly I should work less for free. So I might leave it there for
the blaug. Toodles!
Do...do many people come looking for native grasses?
ReplyDeleteLots! Not enough, to my mind, but I'd say a quarter of all sales includes at least one grass.
DeleteThis is a misleading statistic, mind, as people tend to take fewer grasses than trees and shrubs in any given sale. It is also much less common (though it happens!) for someone to come in and buy a full crate of fifty grasses.