Tag Archives: gulf fritillary

Back with a vengeance

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The butterflies are loving the warm Southwest Florida weather again. We had some cold spells this winter, and the daily butterfly visits came to a stop for the most part. 

I am delighted to say that the gulf fritillary butterfly has come back with a vengeance.

The caterpillar population has exploded these past few weeks. The upside to this, the maypop passionvine continues to pop up everywhere in and outside of the garden giving the caterpillars plenty to eat as they grow through their multiple instars. 

I decided to put some caterpillars in our butterfly house, a move made after cleaning up the garden and moving the plant out of harms way in the actual yard.

There are quite a few chrysalis in the butterfly house currently. 

Yesterday the first butterfly emerged.

Angels watching over us

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I cannot help but take this as a sign. Butterflies appear when angels are near .  .  . Our grandparents are looking over us. The amount of butterflies in my garden this morning was amazing, especially with the overcast skies.

It’s such a great feeling to be surrounded by them as we prepare for Hurricane Milton.

I haven’t seen these many monarch butterflies in my garden in such a long time. They were laying eggs, grabbing a drink.

The gulf fritillary flew so incredibly close before making a stop at my red penta.

My sweet puppy

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With tropical storm Debby in the gulf, we’ve had nonstop bands of rain and wind pretty steadily all day. So, needless to say, there were no butterflies enjoying the gardens today. The caterpillars were all holding onto their host plants just fine – weathering the storm, but the butterflies found their shelter riding out the storm.

The last time I took our 4 month old golden retriever puppy outdoors, that changed. Lily found a gulf fritillary butterfly on the ground with wings wet as can be. A gust of wind took it near a tree, where Lily guided me. She put her nose to the ground right where the butterfly landed. While I scooped up the butterfly, Lily led me back to the porch where I placed the butterfly into the butterfly house, so it can dry off its wings tonight. We will let the beauty go tomorrow, when hopefully the sun comes back out and the grounds dry up a little.

My sweet puppy just stole my heart. Another butterfly whispherer in our home. The gentleness she showed is one of the reasons I love this puppy.

This beauty

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All day long, the gulf fritillary visits the garden, from sun up to sun down. I found this beauty during my final walk through the garden.