After a good rain last night, I took a stroll along our boardwalk to see what kind of life was happening in our garden this morning. There’s something about rain that brings the garden to life in a way that watering with a hose never does.

The monarch caterpillars were plentiful, with many milkweeds chewed down to the stem.

The square garden bed close to a bench my husband made grabbed my attention, calling my name to sit down and watch probably 20 gulf fritillary caterpillars continue to devour our maypop passionvine. They are all various sizes, with many in their molting stages.

According to “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies” the gulf fritillary is named after the orange-red fritillary flower. Gulf is in its name due to its common occurrence around the Gulf of Mexico. There is always an abundance of this beautiful orange butterfly in our gardens. One of my favorite characteristics are the silver spots, created when “light is refracted through prisms in the wing scales,” which are located across both wings on its underside.

Check out my Gulf Fritillary page for more information and photos from our garden: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/gulf-fritillary/?frame-nonce=c33150980c