Our last white peacock butterfly emerged a few days ago, taking our final count to six that we were able to raise from caterpillars we brought home from Butterfly Estates. I now have four plants for them to lay eggs on in the garden, so hopefully they will return and keep their population going. It’s been a few days since I have seen them return.
The white peacock butterfly is on a white lantana, firebush, blue porterweed bush, red penta, pink zinnia, cone flower and scorpion tail. These are all amazing nectar plants to have in the garden.
The blue porterweed and maypop passionvine are a must for the gulf fritillary butterflies. At least, in my garden they are favored by this beauty.
These two plants are growing in abundance in both my front and back butterfly garden, which sees a great deal of action from the gulf fritillary butterflies as soon as the 8 o’clock hour throughout the day until around 7 p.m.
This one photographed below laid eggs on the maypop passionvine and then visited the blue porterweed directly next to it to sip some nectar before the process began all over again.
The swallowtail butterflies are absolutely stunning. It’s always fascinating for me to see the transformation from a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars are viscous eaters who take a long time to reach their desired size. I always know when I have caterpillars chowing down on the Dutchman pipe because more than half of the leaves fall to the ground as they find the perfect spot to eat.
This morning the first of more than 20 emerged in our butterfly house. This beauty stuck with me for a while before it crawled on the porterweed to hang out a little longer.
This marks 26 that we have successfully raised and released.
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.
For more information, check out the link below, which includes quite a few photographs.
I was so excited this female beauty was so eager to sip from our blue porterweed that she did not mind me taking more than 30 photographs. Here is some of my favorites, as in many the nectar can be seen on her proboscis. The proboscis is the food tube, or straw, if you will, used to drink the nectar from flowers. When the proboscis is not in use it is coiled. I have read that the proboscis acts as a sponge, as it soaks the nectar using capillary action. It’s so fascinating to watch them drink.
