The monarch’s are having a pretty incredible year in the garden so far. As soon as the temperatures became warm a few months ago, they are spotted in the garden every day.
The one pictured below may be a newly emerged male butterfly. It has been in the gsrden for quite some time now, enjoying the many blanket flowers that have surrounded him.
The caterpillars, of every instar, are continuously chowing down on the giant milkweed and the balloon milkweed that are spread throughout the garden.
When I truly take the time to slow down and really look at the leaves, and bark of the giant milkweed, as well as neighboring plants, I spot a plethora of caterpillars everywhere.
Still to this day, the biggest thrill of creating a butterfly garden, is seeing a giant swallowtail flutter into the space. The pure size and beauty of this butterfly is incredible.
These beauties capture your attention as they glide through the garden from one plant to another, as their forewing span is from 11.7-17.5 cm for males, and 13.5 to 18.8 cm for females.
I planted a lime tree, one of their host plants, in the garden a few years ago. The tree is now taller than me providing plenty of food for the caterpillars. Yesterday, while I strolled through the garden I found many eggs on the top of the leaves, as well as a few small caterpillars.
According to the University of Florida, the egg has an irregular coating of an orange secretion, a resemblance of an orange peel.
Each instar looks different in appearance. They resemble bird droppings when younger and rest on the top of the leaves. The larger caterpillar will rest on stems or leaf petioles.
According to the University of Florida, the younger caterpillars are black, or brown, with a white saddle and have hairs on prominent knobs. As they grow in size they are mottled dark brown with a white or cream-colored posterior, and no longer have knobs.
The coloring of a monarch caterpillar has become easier to spot amongst all the vegetation.
I continue to have a burst of caterpillars go through the lifecycle, and then a break happens, allowing the balloon milkweed a chance to grow back, before it starts all over again.
I also have two giant milkweed in the garden, probably pushing 7 feet tall, and butterflyweed, so there is a plethora of food sources for them.
I hope in the coming months to continue to add more Southwest Florida native milkweed to their space.
Tonight while walking through the garden I spotted a monarch caterpillar in its “j” form on my candlestick cassia, a neighboring plant to the milkweed. There were still droplets of rain on the caterpillar. Hopefully, I can watch it make its chrysalis in the morning.
As I continued to walk through the garden, I spotted another monarch caterpillar crawling on one of the many sage plants. It seemed to be trying to find its spot to make its chrysalis.
Here are a few newly emerged monarch butterflies from the garden, as well as some visitors enjoying the nectar.
I have worked really hard over the last six years to plant natives in my butterfly garden.
This year has shown me why planting native is so important – with the extreme drought SWFL has experienced – my plants not only thrived, but multipled in some cases.
Starry rosineweed
The starry rosinweed is a perfect example of a thriving native plant. I added a second one to my space this year, more in direct sunlight. The flowers are stunning and the leaves add a great hue of green to the garden. This plant thrives in hardness zones 9b to 10a. It can spread 1 to 2 feet and grow 2 to 5 feet in size.
This year has shown me why planting native is so important – with the extreme drought SWFL has experienced – my plants not only thrived, but multipled in some cases.
Once spring hit this year, I spent a lot of time in the garden cutting back plants and making room for additonal walkways to finally finish my designated garden space, as established plants have continued to grow in size, despite the lack of rain, beautifying my space.
Another plant that is thriving are my coontie plants. All of them have new growth, which is incredibly encouraging. This is the host plant for the atala butterfly, a stunning butterfly that has found my garden once.
The coontie is native to Florida and grows well in zones 8a to 11. They spread 3 to 5 feet, and grow 1 to 5 feet in height.
Over the years I have visited other gardens that have had certified wildlife habitat signs, which definitely sparked my interest. So with that thought tucked away, I continued to add more plants to the garden. Although I have some plants that are not native, they have been added for either a host or nectar plant for butterflies, the vast majority are native to my area.
This week I received my National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habit sign, which I will display proudly.
It’s truly rewarding to plant a variety of butterfly host and nectar plants and watch my space transform into a destination for butterflies, bees, ladybugs and more.
Southwest Florida has had a pretty extreme drought this year, so when it actually rains, I get really excited. I am happy that my garden is mostly native, with well established plants, as it still thrives with the lack of rain we have been experiencing.
I just finished working on the garden – 3 weeks of hard, yet relaxing and gratifying work.
Mist flower
It seems as though every spring I get pulled into the garden for a reimagined look. Although, a good portion was left the same, I added new walkways around my well established plants, redesigned other walkways, curbed the garden to separate it from the yard, and layed 40 plus bags of mulch down.
The rain came in handy because I of course added new plants to fill new spaces. These are still becoming established.
I try to add a new butterfly host plant to the garden every year to see what more I can attract.
Wild petunia
The nectar plants seem to remain the same for the most part, as it has been trial and error of what grows well in my sandy soil.
Black Eyed Susan
The Black Eyed Susan was one of the first flowers I planted six years ago. Unfortunately, both times I tried adding it in the garden it did not do well. Now that my garden offers both shade and sunny areas I decided to give it another try. The rain definitely helped with this plant tonight.
Black Eyed Susan
The zinnia and lantana are new, yet old plants, that I replenish every year, as they are butterfly favorites.
Zinnia Lantana
Some of other plants pictured below are in multiple spots in the garden, while the butterfly bush was just too beautiful not to add to the space.
