Honestly there is nothing better than looking out the windows of our home to see the burst of colors among our butterfly gardens. My front garden is nearing completion as the spots to plant more are running very low. The best part is I have finally found the right plants that can take direct sun almost all day. Here’s just a few of the many plants that grace the front garden.
We had six more gulf fritillary butterflies hatch in our butterfly house this morning, creeping our number up to 13 successes. They were beyond ready to be released this afternoon. Many started digging in right away, taking long sips from the sweat nectar, after I placed them on the penta. Five of them stuck around giving me a chance to try out my new camera. I forgot how much fun it is to take pictures with a good quality camera. So . . . needless to say there is picture galore today of the gulf fritillary, a true favorite of mine.
And of course a few beauties hung out for a little while before climbing onto the penta.
Interesting fact: a butterfly usually does not have more than five distinct colors on its wings. According to author Thomas C. Emmel in “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies,” each scale on the butterfly’s wing has one color. The intensity of the color is a result of the overlapping of scales, as well as the light’s reflection off those scales, Emmel wrote.
Furthermore, there are only two types of colors, pigmented, which are chemical compounds, which may come from the organic dyes in the plant the caterpillar eats, according to Emmel. The second is called structural, which comes from the reflection of the light.
The gulf fritillary is among the most common butterflies found in Florida. Since the species cannot handle any kind of freezing weather, Southwest Florida is a perfect location for them to be. They frequent our garden daily.
According to Emmel, the brown and red areas are pigmented scales, while the silver spots appear through the light, as it refracts through prisms in the scales of the wings.
It is so incredibly fascinating to learn more about these beautiful insects. I have grown a new appreciation for them and enjoy the many species even more fluttering in our garden.
Check out my gulf fritillary page for more photos and information about its life cycle: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/gulf-fritillary/?frame-nonce=c651d35acc
Four more butterflies emerged this morning in our butterfly house, three gulf fritillary (total 8) and one monarch (total 146). Still to this day I have not witnessed the fritillary hatching. One day . . . This butterfly is so striking, as the bottom of its wings are so different than the top bright orange pattern.
This morning was magical, as a male monarch butterfly, who hatched in our butterfly house, was not eager to fly away when I brought him out to our garden. He stayed close for a long time, giving me the opportunity to admire his beauty. It’s moments like these that continues my passion of raising a vast variety of species in our butterfly house, giving them the chance to spread their wings and fly away.
I found so many baby polydamas caterpillars in the garden this morning. Just briefly scanning the Dutchman pipe, I found four different clusters of caterpillars, which at this stage of its instar is incredibly common. They explore on their own when they get larger.
I now have three different Dutchman pipe plants thriving in the garden, all vining up an archway and across a rope meeting together. The abundance of large green leaves, I am sure will soon disappear as the caterpillars continue to grow.
Be sure to check my polydamas butterfly page for more information about the life cycle, which of course shows many photos from our gardens:
https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/polydamas-swallowtail-butterfly/
