My enclosure is full of great southern white chrysalis. They are everywhere, on the plant, the sides of the enclosure, the bottle holding the plant.
So many
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Category Archives: great southern white butterfly
The great return
The Great Southern White butterflies have returned to the garden. I have noticed them almost daily now hovering and landing on their host plant, Virginia peppergrass (pepperweed). This plant grows freely all over the yard. It probably started pushing through the dirt last month. The best part, it is now growing in numerous places in my designated, safe space, garden area.
The female, which can be a dirty to gray, white coloring, with black forewing apex, and a black forewing cell spot, have sure been busy. The female lays yellow, spindle-shaped eggs, either single, or in clusters. The photographs, below, show the eggs in clusters.
My favorite distinction of this butterfly is the amazing turquoise antennal clubs. They are absolutely stunning. The wingspan of this butterfly ranges from 45 to 58 mm.
608
On Wednesday, May 3, my daughter and I celebrated a pretty exciting anniversary, the beginning of our butterfly gardening adventure. We purchased our first host and nectar plant in 2020 from All Native Garden Center, where I still to this day purchase a great deal of plants.
On our anniversary, my daughter asked how many butterflies we have raised since 2020. Well, today I counted and that number is 608, which includes nine different species! What better way to learn about nature than bringing them to you.
I cannot even fathom how many more butterflies have emerged from our garden, supporting the population in our area. I know we have also helped the lifecycle of the zebra longwing butterfly, cassius blue butterfly, dainty sulphur and the white checkered butterfly.
What started off with three plants has transformed our lives and continues to teach us a great deal of these extraordinary insects. I don’t think we are even close to finishing expanding our garden and inviting more species into our butterfly sanctuary, if you will.
426 monarch butterflies raised and released.
77 gulf fritillaries raised and released.
56 great southern white butterflies raised and released.
25 Julia butterflies raised and released.
3 giant swallowtail butterflies raised and released.
14 polydamas swallowtail butterflies raised and released.
4 sulphur butterflies raised and released.
2 eastern black swallowtail butterflies raised and released.
1 queen butterfly raised and released.
And they continue to emerge
The great southern white butterflies continue to emerge in the butterfly house. We are up to 38 that have successfully emerged so far. They enjoyed a dune sunflower and scorpion tail today.
15 more
Today we had 15 more great southern white butterflies emerge in our butterfly house. They had to remain in the house for quite some time as we had a pretty bad storm this morning and the wind was crazy strong. Some of them were super eager to fly away, while others allowed us to bring them to some nectar flowers in our front garden. My daughter was ecstatic that some stayed with her for a while. So special when she talks to them and names them. The passion will continue to another generation.
We had lots of females and males. The females are darker in color and have black cell spots on their forewing, while the males are mostly white.
The best part is we have so many great southern white butterflies flying around all of our gardens. It’s absolutely stunning to spot the white when the males are flying, as well as the darker shades, while the females are fluttering by.
