Western Tiger Swallowtail on Agastache Blue Blazes
I am re-running this article because the story continued with this amazing plant. Agastache ‘Blue Blazes’ became a national sensation after it launched in the 2011 Spring catalog. It launched on he cover of our Collectors Edition. It then caught national attention because this Agastache can feed Hummingbirds, Butterflies and Bees.
Two Spotted Swallowtail
I stayed home today to work on plant descriptions for next year’s 2011 spring catalog. As I was taking a late morning stretch, I stepped out back into one of my gardens where I encountered a flurry of pollination taking place on three plants of Agastache ‘Blue Blazes’. This is my second year testing this new cultivar and plants are huge and loaded with several hundred big lavender and blue flower spikes in full bloom. It will be a featured new variety for next spring and I’m just blown away with its beauty and attractiveness to all the pollinators. But I digress.
Two Spotted Western Swallowtail sipping Agastache Blue Blazes
The bees were buzzing around, a shimmering green hummingbird was busy sipping the blooms and suddenly there was a huge Two Spotted Western Swallowtail descending down onto the plants seeking their flowers. I rushed back into the house to grab my camera and for the next 15 or so minutes, I photographed this extraordinary creature. The swallowtail was so relishing its morning meal that it was completely at ease with my presence and let me share its space.
After viewing the photos I think it was a newly hatched swallowtail as its wings and tails were brilliantly colored, blemish-free and un-tattered. Its grace and lightness were a wonder to behold as it would flutter up from the flower spike with its huge, yellow striped wings, circle around above the plants and then land again and again and again, the plants a seemly endless supply of nectar. And this, I remind myself, is why I surround myself with flowers.
Tags: agastache, blue blazes, butterfly, two spotted swallowtail
I don’t know how big this plant will get, but after just 3 months in the ground our blue blazes are 3 feet high and 5 feet wide. The number of butterflies and bees it attracts is astounding. For comparison, blue fortune is only 2 feet high and 3 feet wide and doesn’t attract as many feeders. You definitely have a winner!
I agree with Bruce it does sound like a winner! Having a garden full of flowers is one thing but having a garden full of flowers and butterflies is another.