The malachite butterfly absolutely stole the show today while visiting the Butterfly Estates in the Downtown Fort Myers River District. My friend and I were in complete awe and could not get enough of this graceful flyer with the stunning green coloring.

This is the one that my friend and I continue to talk about hours later. The one that has left us researching the host plant, so we can add it to our garden. That’s part of the great fun of creating a butterfly garden, at least for me, seeing how many species you can attract to your space. How many you can invite in, so you can admire their beauty and watch their life cycle. I believe we are up to 10 different species!

I only took 67 photos of this beauty.

According to the University of Florida, the Malachite, Siproeta stelenes, is named after the semi-precious green gemstone. Although the number of this butterfly has declined, they have been found in Lee County, an area of Southwest Florida, among a few other counties in Florida.

The eggs are green and the caterpillars are black with red markings and are horned and spiny. Its host plant is the green shrimp plant, which is also called Browne’s Blechum. The native wildflower choice, according to the University of Florida, is the Carolina wild petunia.