Tag Archives: Butterfly garden

Certified

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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.

Wild petunia

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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

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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

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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.

The polydamas

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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.

The polydamas lays yellow to orange eggs in clusters of 10 to 14, which can typically be spotted on newly developed stems, or growing tips, of the Dutchman pipe. The butterfly tends to lay its eggs on the Dutchman pipe that are in sunny areas, although the caterpillars have a higher survival rate in the shade.

The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars feed in groups when they are small, devouring the youngest leaves, as well as flowers before moving onto the older portions of the Dutchman pipe.

The caterpillar will go through four instars, 19 to 24 days, before it’s ready to form its chrysalis. The colors of the caterpillars are a bit different during the first instar, with tan and small tubercles. Once the caterpillar molts into the second instar, they become dark brown with larger tubercles.

I brought home a new Dutchman pipe from a local native plant nursery last week with two young polydamas swallowtail caterpillars. They remain together, eating.