Monthly Archives: April 2026

Green and gold

Posted on by
Reply

It was a quiet winter in the butterfly garden with the cold snaps we experienced here in Southwest Florida.

Althought the mornings start off with a slight chill in the air, by mid morning, definitely going into afternoon, the temperatures sure heat up bringing the butterflies fluttering into the garden.

I have had a butterfly garden for almost six years now – the thrill never gets old. Every day I walk through the garden in hopes of finding eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalis.

Lately, the hunt has been really easy as there are many caterpillars – monarch, gulf fritillary, polydamas swallowtail, and orange barred sulphur – right now on their various host plants.

The monarch caterpillars seem to mulitple as the days of the week go by.

There are many monarch caterpillars in every instar on the various milkweed throughout the garden. My two newly planted balloon milkweed have been a favorite.

The chrysalis are appearing as well, some on leaves, some roaming the perimeter of my house.

Wild petunia

Posted on by
Reply

Every year I add a new host plant to the garden in the effort to attract more butterflies to their designated space. I was happy to see my favorite native garden center had wild petunia during my last visit. This is a host plant for the common buckeye butterfly.

The wait now begins.

But in the meantime, I am enjoying this beautiful plant grow and thrive.

This flower is part of the acanthaceae family and ruellia genus. They can grow to one to feet high and need about six to 12 inches of spacing.

The native flower has been said to bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall, adding a beautiful color of purple to my landscape. The best part is once they are established, I have read that they are pretty drought-tolerant, which is wonderful because my Southwest Florida garden is experiencing a very severe drought this year.

I have also read that they reseed enabling them to come back year after year.

I have started my garden with two and they are as happy as can be in full sun. I have read that these plants can be propagated by either stem cuttings, dividing larger clusters, and of course by seed. I may have to try cutting a healthy stem of four to six inches long and putting in water to get new roots to grow.

An absolute favorite

Posted on by
Reply

There’s just something spectacular about the simple beauty of a zinnia flower. I found a stunning variety for a great deal and recently added them to the garden.

These flowers are incredibly easy to grow. I have pots sprinkled throughout the garden that have new growth starting already. 

The best part is the zinnia is a great nectar plant for butterflies. 

Cassius blue

Posted on by
Reply

I have started spotting the tiny cassius blue butterfly throughout the garden. It is such a fast flyer, making it hard to photograph.

In all the years I have had its host plant, plumbago, I have never spotted the caterpillars, or the chrysalis.

Its wingspan is only 15-22 mm. The egg is flattened and blue. The butterfly will lay the egg on flowers, flower buds or the developing seed pods of the plumbago.

There are two eyespots on the margin of the hind wing. The males are pale to bright blue above, while the females have a bluish-white to white above the basal area of the wing, as well as broad dark borders.

The larvae are also small, as it is approximately only .5 inches in length and are green with faint dark markings, or a patterned white faint marking.

They are back

Posted on by
Reply

The warm weather and sunny skies has sure brought the butterflies back to the garden again.

Since Easter, the monarch population has grown leaps and bounds in the butterfly garden. The caterpillars are on both my balloon milkweed, and giant milkweed, in various instars.

The monarch caterpillars feed solely on milkweed leaves, which produces glycoside toxins, according to the National Wildlife Federation, which deters other animals from eating the caterpillars.

The toxins are stored making them taste bad and remains after they emerge into a butterfly, continuing to protect them.

After the butterfly lays a cream colored egg on the bottom of a milkweed leaf, it takes anywhere from three to five days to hatch. The larvae chews a small hole in the egg to wiggle free. Once it emerges it consumes the rest of the egg before moving onto the leaf.

As the yellow, black and white stripped caterpillar eats the milkweed leaf it continues to grow and molts its old skin, splitting it in half. The caterpillar often consumes the skin before continuing eating the milkweed leaf. It can grow in length to 2″.

One of my favorite parts about having a butterfly garden is finding where the caterpillars end up making their final destination. The chrysalis below was found on my watering can, a good distance, but not too far away at the same time. 

The monarch butterfly resting on red penta, a favorite nectar plant for many species of butterflies.