Monthly Archives: September 2023

The rare butterfly found my garden

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Excitement does not even begin to explain how I’m feeling right now.

Has something ever caught your eye, pulling you outdoors, which only turns into running back inside to grab your camera??

I am a firm believer of, “plant it and they will come,” as time after time it has rung true. So, I planted some coontie and a sweet almond bush to see if I could attract another species, a very special species to the garden.

Well yesterday that was me when I spotted the absolutely stunning atala (Eumaeus atala Poey) butterfly in MY garden for the FIRST time and she left EGGS behind.

According to the University of Florida, the atala is a rare hairstreak butterfly that has highly localized populations in coastal central and south Florida. They have “satiny black wings with an iridescent turquois shimmer.” The University of Florida said this butterfly was thought to be extinct when the coontie (Zamia integrifolia) was overharvested. It was also stated that this species disappeared between 1937 and 1959, but was rediscovered in 1979 by Roger Hammer, a naturalist and author from Key Biscayne, Florida.

To think this special Florida butterfly found my garden because I planted its host plant, the coontie, and one of its favorite nectar plants, the sweet almond bush, leaves me ecstatic. I am eager to watch the lifecycle and research more about this rare beauty.

Here are an assortment of photos of this beauty laying quite a few eggs on my coontie. It was definitely hard to choose a few out of the 80 photographs I took.

In love

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The gulf fritillary, such a stunning butterfly! At any given time we have at least six fluttering about the garden.

These two recently emerged in our butterfly house the last few days. The first photo rested on our butterfly bench for a while. The contrast of the gulf fritillary and the bench, to me, is stunning.

I have found that the zinnia flower is another favorite of the gulf fritillary. They always feed off the red penta and blue porterweed, so I was excited to see I found another nectar plant they enjoy. I just planted more than a dozen zinnia seeds with the seeds already sprouting in the garden.

One shy of 450

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We had four more monarch butterflies emerge in our butterfly house, two of which I witnessed slowly come out of its chrysalis. That, will never get old.

21 and counting

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The polydamas swallowtail has had an outstanding week in the butterfly house with 21 total emerging bringing our grand total to 75. The first photo is of its chrysalis right before it emerged.

The polydamas, also known as the gold rim swallowtail, tailless swallowtail and scientific name Battus polydamas lucayus, lays its eggs on the Dutchman pipe. This is the only swallowtail that lacks the tails at the base of the secondary wings, according to the University of Florida.

This species can be found throughout peninsular Florida, as well as in the Florida Keys. There are some that wander as far north as Missouri and Kentucky.

A favorite nectar flower of this species is the red penta. It’s amazing to watch them take a sip, as their wings never stop flapping. The ones released have been hanging out in the gardens this week!

The love extends

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I love that I have extended my passion for butterflies and their lifecycle with others!

When you walk to my front door you often times have to watch your step up the path, as caterpillars are on the move, sometimes crossing that path to find a place to make their chrysalis on my home. Sometimes they create a chrysalis around the window giving us perfect view of when they emerge.

My good friend found a gulf fritillary caterpillar crawling up the ledge near my front door, and she like my daughter and I, had to save and put into our butterfly house where it instantly made its chrysalis. Yesterday the beauty emerged and flew free into our garden.

This one marks 84!