Tag Archives: Butterflies

Painted Ladies

Posted by Lesley on May 9, 2011 2 comments

I recently spotted an American Painted Lady butterfly for the first time.  It was flitting around the yellow tickseed at King Farm.  Scientifically known as Coreopsis, tickseed was named Florida’s state wildflower in 1991; there are 13 native species of Coreopsis throughout the state.      

The American Painted Lady is different from the Painted Lady butterfly.  As with the American version, I’ve only ever seen one Painted Lady; it was at a butterfly farm in New York.  There were hundreds of Monarchs under the tent and only one Painted Lady:

The two butterflies look very similar but have two distinguishing traits – their orange color and hindwing eye spots.  The orange wings of the Painted Lady are paler than those of the American Painted Lady, and the Painted Lady has four small eye spots on its hindwings.  The American Painted Lady has two large eye spots on its hindwings.   

In Gardening for Florida’s Butterflies, Pamela F. Traas says, “The best way to attract American lady butterflies to your garden is to plant large masses of the same nectar plant” (36).  That could be why I spotted this one at King Farm.  There was a huge patch of Coreopsis in one spot.  Tickseed is in the Aster family.  In addition to providing nectar, plants in the Aster family, along with a few cudweed species, are host plants for American Painted Ladies.   

Traas, Pamela F. Gardening for Florida’s Butterflies. St. Petersburg, FL: Great Outdoors Publishing Company, 1999.

Red Admiral Update

Posted by Lesley on April 30, 2011 None comments

I asked for it, and I got it.  A Red Admiral butterfly visited my garden today. 

  

Catch Butterflies with Milk Crates

Posted by Lesley on April 28, 2011 3 comments

Six caterpillars and six chrysalises…I think.  As caterpillars move and grow at rapid rates; it’s difficult to track them outdoors.  The laundry room was a controlled environment; they were easy to track.  Outside, butterflies continue to visit and lay eggs.

But at any given time, I never counted more than six caterpillars on the milkweed, and there are six chrysalises accounted for.  The first three were easy to find; one attached under the windowsill and two attached to the eave of the roof.  The other three went missing.  I searched for days and only by chance found them while turning on the hose.

 

You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it, but there are three little chrysalises all in a row!  It was quite the exciting discovery.  Out of six caterpillars, half were drawn to the milk crate.  It makes perfect sense; caterpillars seek out sheltered areas.  They also need enough room to unfurl their wings.  Milk crates suit both requirements.  

And the handles are large enough for the butterflies to exit through.

The milk crate worked so well that all three chrysalises survived.  Out of the first three, only one made it.  Now that the Monarchs have moved on, I’m going to put the crate up against the fence near the Cassia tree.  The Orange-barred Sulphurs have been visiting regularly for a few weeks now, mostly in pairs.  I spotted two mating mid-air yesterday and spotted this caterpillar last week. 

Milkweed: Clip with Caution

Posted by Lesley on April 11, 2011 2 comments

As a gardener, my natural tendency is to snip, trim and weed when I’m in the garden.  I want everything to look pretty, and right now my milkweed looks anything but.  There are barely any flowers on it; the leaves aren’t as green as normal; and the seed pods are splitting into messy mop tops. 

That last part I’ve happily allowed up until this point because I’m a sucker for self-sowing plants.  There’s nothing better than getting more flowers than you originally planted, and the milkweed plants are spitting and hurling seeds through the garden at this point.  They are determined to take over, and I’m fine with it.  Every plant around, real or fake, has a milkweed seed stuck to it.

I always hesitate when clipping back milkweed because you never know what’s hiding under the leaves.  Good thing I kept the clippers holstered.  There are two plants and six caterpillars.  If they outlast the elements and the birds, the caterpillars will morph into Monarch butterflies.   

Milkweed is the only plant Monarch butterflies will lay their eggs on.  It’s like magic.  Plant it, and they will come – butterflies and bugs alike.  Although I’ve only ever seen four types of insects on my milkweed, an Iowa study reported seeing 457 different types of insects on their milkweed.  My four are butterflies, ants, milkweed bugs, and yellow milkweed aphids (pictured below).

I’d rather see milkweed bugs over milkweed aphids because the latter are detrimental to the plant.  They suck nutrients out of the plant and are surely the reason for my recently lackluster leaves.  Once the caterpillars move on to the chrysalis stage, I’m going to spray them off the milkweed with the garden hose set on jetstream - advice from My Monarch Guide.  There may be a few drowned ants as well because where there are aphids, there usually are ants.  It’s quite the interesting relationship; the ants milk the aphids. 

 

Interesting or not, I’m one chrysalis closer to grabbing the garden hose and reclaiming my milkweed.

Five to go.  To find the chrysalis, keep an eye on the caterpillar when it strays from the plant.  This one scouted out a few trellises before anchoring underneath the windowsill. 

New College Campus

Posted by Lesley on March 12, 2011 2 comments

I spent the morning at the Archaeology Fest at New College.  It was an assignment from the paper, and I was happy to have it come my way.  The festival, people and stories were interesting enough.  But the location is one of my favorites.  The college is located next door to the Ringling Museum; the campus overlooks Sarasota Bay.  Up until 2006, New College shared their campus with the University of South Florida.  I once took a literature class in the original Ringling mansion.

The mansion, renamed College Hall, had seen better days.  Still, the classroom overlooked the bay and had a fireplace.  If I hadn’t finished my reading for that day, I’d show up early and pray this bench was open.

The new USF campus is great.  It’s all one building, laptops in the classrooms, the works.  It’s just so very different.  It was nice to walk the grounds and enjoy the beautiful day.  I even spotted a couple of butterflies.

Buckeye

Black Swallowtail

Gardening to Attract Butterflies

Posted by Lesley on February 22, 2011 6 comments

A recent request on Facebook has had me happily researching butterfly plants.  But with over 15,000 different species of butterflies and even more larval and nectar plants, my own garden is a good way to pare down the subject.  My garden is in Southwest Florida, more specifically, Sarasota.  And there are four categories of butterflies that can be spotted regularly around here - Monarchs, Swallowtails, Sulphurs, and Fritillaries.     

A Monarch hiding in some Milkweed

The easiest and fastest way to get started is with Milkweed.  Buy as little as one small plant and wait for the Monarchs.  Milkweed is the only larval plant Monarchs will lay their eggs on.  Larval plants are also called host plants because after adult butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves, the hatched caterpillars feed on them.  In addition to being a larval plant, Milkweed is also a nectar plant.  A successful butterfly garden needs a combination of both.  The nectar plants are far less specific – many brightly colored, aptly shaped flowers fit the bill.  I’ve watched Monarchs sip nectar from Purple Coneflowers, Sunflowers, Pentas, and Zinnias.

A Spicebush Swallowtail with its probiscus sunk into a Mexican sunflower

Swallowtails have a broader palette than Monarchs; the herbs are what draw these beauties to my garden - parsley, dill and fennel are favorite larval plants.  The herbs are known hosts; my nectar recommendation is only a personal observation – plant Mexican sunflowers.  I’ve yet to find another flower that attracts more Swallowtails.

A Gulf Fritillary perched on a Mexican Sunflower

Mexican sunflowers also attract Gulf Fritillaries, along with Pentas, Button Sage, Lantana, and Spanish Needle.  Most vines in the Passionflower family can serve as hosts but avoid Red Passion-flower and Purple Granadilla.  Larvae don’t fare as well on these varieties. Instead try Corky-stemmed, Maypop or Yellow.  

An Orange-barred Sulphur feeding on the Cassia tree

Sulphurs are last on my list and by far the most elusive.  It wasn’t until my Cassia tree went in that we started seeing regulars.  Up to that point, the orange and yellow butterflies flew through the yard but never stopped for nectar.  Now, it’s as if they’re permanent ornaments that came with the tree.  Cassias, along with members of the bean family, host Sulphurs.  As for nectar, Pentas and Tropical Sage are good choices.  The latter is a cinch to grow - the plants don’t mind sandy soil, and it’s an aggressive self-sower.   

Tropical Sage

Some other nectar plants I’ve had good luck with are Tickseed, Blanketflower, Black-eyed Susan, Porterweed, and any variety of Sunflower. 

Tickseed

Purple Coneflowers

Attracting Gulf Fritillaries to Your Butterfly Garden

Posted by Lesley on February 5, 2011 1 comments

The drunken butterfly I surprised on Wednesday must have told all his friends about my garden.  I’ve seen one every day since.  It’s great because there hasn’t been a Gulf Fritillary around the garden in quite some time.  And since every time I see one, he or she is wing-deep in white flowers, it seems the influx is thanks to the Button sage.   

There are two white Button sage plants in my butterfly garden.  Unlike the Porterweed and Pentas, the Button sage has stayed strong and green through every cold snap.

The sticks in front are the Porterweed, and the droopy brown leaves in the background are the Pentas.  Injured but not out, they both have visible regrowth.  I’m waiting until March to cut everything back – better safe than sorry.  The lush green in front of the Button sage is Lantana.  It’s not blooming right now, but the cold had no effect on it.  Both Button sage and Lantana are in the verbena family. 

Another possible reason for so many Gulf Fritillaries lately is one of the other newbie plants in the garden – the Passionflower vine.  Although Button sage provides nectar to the butterflies, Passionflower feeds and protects the larva.  The passion flowers are toxic.  The toxins stay in the larva and are poisonous to predators.  My vine hasn’t produced and blooms yet, but its corky-stems have shown me some love.   

When the garden used to see Gulf Fritillaries regularly, I had a lot of Mexican sunflowers and Zinnias planted.  Both are nectar sources.

Orange-barred Sulphur Butterfly

Posted by Lesley on January 20, 2011 None comments

I’ve seen several sulphurs in the garden since planting the Cassia tree; capturing a photo has been a completely different story.  They’re frantic little things, never stopping long enough to capture them on film.  Most of my photos look like this…

And for the most part, I’ve seen the more common yellow sulphurs, aka Cloudless sulphurs.  But the universe gave me one this week and sent this spectacular Orange-barred sulphur to my butterfly garden.   

Although it took about a dozen tries, this particular butterfly was kind enough to pose for at least three seconds so I could get the shot.  Sulphurs are nothing like Monarchs.  Monarch butterflies are complete hams!   

Buddy Walk Butterfly Garden

Posted by Lesley on October 28, 2010 4 comments

Congratulations to Ubermommy; she’s now uber-executive-director too. In her first three months on the job she led her team to a successful Buddy Walk, raising over $65,000 for Manasota BUDS (Bringing Up Down Syndrome).  And congratulations to me on winning the silent auction for a butterfly garden from Mariposa.  John was still feeling guilty over the grapefruit tree, so he literally stood by the list for the last 15-20 minutes of bidding, adding my name the minute anyone else bid. No one was going home with that butterfly garden other than me.  We mutually agreed afterwards that we felt bad about bullying Ubermommy with our eyes when she made an attempt to outbid me.  To make up for it, she got a potted mini butterfly garden of yellow lantana, white button sage and milkweed.

The package was incredible, and the garden is already delivering butterflies.  John’s diligence and devotion won me a cassia tree, passionflower vine, porterweed, two pentas, two milkweeds, three button sages, and three lantanas!  Plus one other unidentified plant that also went to Ubermommy. There were 14 plants in total, and the cassia tree even came with a caterpillar!

I think it will turn into a sulphur butterfly, but then again it could be a moth.  I couldn’t find confirmation in any of my field guides, and I really don’t care either way because the cassia is already attracting so many sulphurs.  They’re an elusive group of butterflies, always flying through the garden but never landing.  With all the different flowers planted over the years, there have been monarchs, fritillaries and swallowtails hanging around but never sulphurs.  Now I have my missing piece – a cassia tree.  It seems like every time I look out at it there’s a sulphur flitting around its flowers.  The big win has greatly improved the view from our kitchen and Florida room windows.  It was as if HGTV came in and gave us a mini-makeover.  Here’s the before:

When we first planted the area, it was beautiful – two pink Perfume Delight roses surrounded by a bed of pink mums.  It held up well for never changing out the mums and very rarely fertilizing the roses, but the weeds and grass took over and it was ready for an overhaul.  Here’s the after:

The only thing it needs now is a little sign that says, “Ella’s Garden” because she’s the reason I walk every year.  Go BUDS!  Go Ella!

Pirate Ella ~ 2010 Buddy Walk

Hello again!

Posted by Lesley on August 8, 2010 None comments

I’m back from New York and finally back to blogging.  Since I never officially closed out my run with ABC Wednesday, I feel I should say Z is for Zip-a-dee-do-dah, I’m also back online!  I loved my summer vacation in New York visiting with friends and family, but it’s 2010 and I love my high-speed internet connection equally.  Getting so behind makes it tough to decide where to begin, but it makes sense to start back up with my go-to favorite subject – butterflies.  My mom and I spotted scores of them walking through the woods behind the Cary Institute.  This was one I’d never seen before – a Red Admiral:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The butterfly pictured above is a Northern Pearly-eye, and the one below is unidentified.  Help, please?