The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society held a butterfly walk in Reynolda Gardens, Winston-Salem, Forsyth Co., NC, on 8-26-17. This was a substitute location for the trip scheduled for the Greensboro Arboretum that was announced earlier.

It was a comfortable morning for butterfly watchers, although a bit cool and cloudy at the start for the butterflies. We began at 9:30 with a temperature of 68 degrees and an overcast sky. Butterflies were scarce. However, as the clouds blew away and revealed the sun, the air began to warm and butterflies became more active. It was about 80 degrees and sunny when we finished just before noon.

We saw 12 species of butterflies, including 11 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on one dill plant. There were no real surprises, although we saw two Painted Ladies but no American Ladies.

One plant in the garden caught just about everyone’s attention: a vine with hundreds of racemes of small deep orange to pale yellow flowers, Ipomoea lobata, which is in the same genus as morning glories. This plant, known variously as Firecracker Vine, Spanish Flag, and Exotic Love Vine, is a native of Brazil, according to Wikipedia. It was well attended by hummingbirds, in addition to drawing many pollinators of different species.

We had 8 participants for this field trip including Don Allemann, Gerry & Diana Berry, Dennis Burnette, Barbara Cullen, Lois Koufman, Maggie Martin, and Gene Schepker.

Here is our butterfly list for the morning:

Black Swallowtail caterpillars 11
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Cabbage White 3
Cloudless Sulphur 1
Painted Lady 2 (no American Ladies)
Red-spotted Purple 2
Monarch 3
Silver-spotted Skipper 5
Clouded Skipper 3
Fiery Skipper 4
Sachem 8
Ocola Skipper 1

Dennis