Butterflies.

Mountain Garland Clarkia  Photo Credit:  Nancy Bauer

SPRING!

It’s the beginning of the wildflower season and there are so many Sonoma hotspots for wildflowers from now into June.  Wander your favorite trails along the Sonoma coastal bluffs, Anndadel, Sugarloaf, Sonoma Mountain, or many of our local parks and preserves. Douglas iris, hound’s tongue, blue dicks, milkmaids, checkerbloom and shooting stars are blooming.  Early nectar sources for butterflies.  I have been seeing migrating California Tortoiseshell butterflies and several Mourning Cloaks lately.  Both butterfly species overwinter as adults and emerge in spring.  Mourning Cloaks hide in the bark of a tree, coming out on warm, sunny days in the winter. The Tortoiseshells lay eggs on wild lilac (Ceanothus); Mourning Cloaks use willows and poplars as larval food plants.  California wildflowers, Ceanothus, Western redbud, manzanita, native salvias and monkeyflowers are just a few of our early blooming nectar sources for butterflies and native bees.


Nancy Bauer
Co-founder the Habitat Corridor Project
Author, the California Wildlife Habitat Garden. UC press.  
https://www.powells.com/book/the-california-wildlife-habitat-garden-how-to-attract-bees-butterflies-birds-and-other-animals-9780520267817?condition=New&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23231155612&gbraid=0AAAAAD_gE3MWfSpOpzYIMmaPe70dBWg6O&gclid=CjwKCAiAnoXNBhAZEiwAnItcG25kRV-4cD6sPDzyJQKCQHfrK7B9Bdjvau6lS4GD-FYjqDEpytdWiBoC7ZgQAvD_BwE