Limenitis arthemis or Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

I have seen a lot of these red spotted purple butterflies around in the last week or so. This one I found dead on the road as I was going walking. It did allow me to get a good look at it and admire the wings close up. The top picture is the inside of the wings and the more decorative side with the orange dots is the underside of the wings. Riding on a dirt road, they seemed to be everywhere, flying across the road and sitting on the soil. I have often seen butterflies puddling (drinking from a wet place) but these were just lighting singly on the dry dirt. There must have been something in the soil they wanted because there were dozens after it. This butterfly is a mimic for the pipevine swallowtail, which is poisonous (to birds)

Inula helenium (elecampane)

I don't know what I was expecting 3 summers ago when I planted the seed of Inula helenium, but it sure was not this. It's quite a disappointment, especially for the long wait for flowers. It has big leaves that stay close to the ground till the bloom stalk starts to form. The leaves are light green, in spite of ample fertilizer and because they are long lasting and close to the ground, they get a tattered look that is not very appealing. The flowers themselves are nice enough individually, but not long lasting and the stalk winds up looking disheveled because of the spent flowers. I didn't try cutting the whole stalk (perhaps I should have), but the individual flowers are too short for cutting.
I wondered why it finally chose to bloom this year and thought it might be because of the ample rain, but a look at it's distribution shows that it appears in much drier places than the southeast. It originally hails from Europe and has been used as a healing herb as an expectorate and for water retention. Recent research indicates an extract of Inula can kill many bacteria, including the one responsible for MRSA. Maybe it has other worthwhile attributes that can substitute for beauty.
Horse-heal is a common name for it and it is usual use to day is in veterinary medicine.

Summer Hyacinth

My Galtonia candicans (Summer Hyacinth) has just about finished blooming, but was in bloom for  a long time. in the heat and high humidity of summer. I've had this bulb for several years and it blooms every year reliably. This year it was taller than usual (about 3 feet), probably  because of all the rain. I no longer remember where or when I got it, but I only had one when I planted it. Now it has made an offset which also bloomed this year, plus 2 flower stalks from the original bulb.. The flowers are white with some green markings. They are claimed to be fragrant, but frankly, I can detect no fragrance at all.
It needs full sun (at least 6 hrs/day) and otherwise ordinary soil conditions (fertile soil, well drained).
It is also known by the names Hyacinthus candicans and  spire lily.
 If you can get one of these by hook or crook, I highly recommend it for it's sturdy beauty and undemanding care.

Begonia

This Rex Begonia is one that I originally got from my grandmother. In the 40 years since, I have propagated it many times.The typical propagation method is by cutting a leaf in sections and sitting them point down into a moist but well draining soil medium. I use straight pearlite. New plantlets form from the cut ends of the larger leaf veins.It takes several months to produce a good size plant. A faster way of propagation is to place a horizontal stem portion of a Rex in a small pot with well draining media. Do not completely bury the stem, although the end point can be stuck in the soil enough to stabilize the cutting. This method will produce a larger plant quicker. Rex come is such an array of colors and leaf shapes and forms that you are sure to find one (or more-watch out-they are habit forming). It nearly always blooms beautifully in the early spring, and the one pictured is a particularly large full pot. Cooler weather agrees with Rex more than the suffocating heat of an Alabama summer, but they still soldier on. Be careful not to bury the horizontal stems in the planting media, or they may rot .Remember the stems grow on top of the ground; they are not roots or rhizomes. Keep moist, but not wet, and enjoy the beautiful foliage long after the blooms have faded.

Cactus Know It's Spring

To the best of my knowledge, these are Mammillaria cactus , but online I cannot find any with orange flowers. They all seem to be pink. I have had this slowly expanding group for years and with almost no care they grow, bloom in spring , and multiply. If anyone can tell me more about what cactus this is, I would appreciate it.

Buckeyes headed into Spring

 These pictures reveal the opening of red buckeye flowers (Aesculus pavia). They are beautiful at all stages. This year the progression has been slower than usual, I suppose because of the cool wet weather this spring. I look forward to a bumper crop of buckeyes. The wildlife around here are looking forward to that event also.  Unless I check the bush every day when the seed pods begin to open in the fall, I won't harvest any. The seed must be very nutritious as they are relished by squirrels, chipmunks, and rats and mice. (They are reputed to be poisonous to humans, but we know rodents can eat almost anything.) I have found several apparent seedlings near and under my bushes and I guess they were missed in the harvest, or hidden and forgotten by squirrels.
 The red flowers make a beautiful splash in the landscape and woods in spring, and I am usually surprised to see them in the woods in places I had not noticed before. Keep your eyes peeled on woodlots as you drive along and you are likely to see their bright flowers. The flowers provide a nectar source for eastern swallowtail butterflies, as well as bumble bees and carpenter bees.
  Red buckeyes bloom in both shade and sun but white or bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) do best in shade. Altho bottlebrush buckeyes bloom in sun, their leaves get a washed out cast that makes me wish I had been more thoughtful of their wishes. Both red and white buckeyes are said to be native to the southeast, but I have never seen a white one in the wild. That could be because they are less spectacular in bloom and not at all spectacular when not in bloom, but they have the same big brown shiny seed. The seed make great worry "stones' and some people still use them as good luck charms.
 If you want to transplant one, get your back ready to dig. They have deep roots (this makes them drought tolerant), and they suffer for 2 or 3 years after transplant from the ground. If you want to grow them from seed, plant the seed right after it ripens. They will not germinate after they dry out. Plant them where you want them to grow and let nature do the rest, but do keep in mind that the resulting bush will be quite large in a few years.

Sloe Plum

This is my sloe plum, probably Allegheny plum. I collected it as a seed . Every year it produces glorious bloom. One year I decorated it with Christmas balls, which I subsequently added to. I think the decorations look even better with the spring bloom. The balls are too hazardous to remove because of the thorny fruit spurs.  I had always called this a sloe plum, mistakenly thinking the name was slow plum because it does not ripen till about August. A little internet search showed that sloe plum originated in Europe where the fruits were used to make jelly, preserves, and wine. There it was harvested after frost, like persimmons are here, to reduce the astringent flavor. This could be the English plum, but I rather think because of  where I found the parent growing, that it is our native Allegheny plum. I have never tried to make jelly from it, but that might be a good project for this year.