For the love of a Butterfly

Can you believe that at 12:30 AM tomorrow it will be officially Winter....CRAZY....I mean it reached 80 degrees today...Well here's hoping for a mild winter for 2012! I've been working on my butterfly garden recently....and I got a huge surprise over the weekend! As I tried to identify tiny lil sulfers darting everywhere..I caught from the corner of my eye...a new butterfly, flying erradically around the coral Porterweed .(stachytarpheta mutabilis)..I knew instanty what it was... A Zebra Longwing! 

Wow...the first one to visit this garden in the entire 10 years I've been here....It's not that I don't give them a host plant..I do, but I just haven't had one until this day!!!  Passion vine is the host plant of the Florida state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing. That surprise reminded me of one of my favorite Garden/Christmas memories.....Years ago, in my first garden about this same time of the year...there was going to be a freeze and I noticed some eggs on the new growth of the vine. I broke it off and brought it inside, That's when the genius in me came out....I had a baby at home at that time, so I stuck the sprig in a very well watered Diaper....yep that's right a disposable diaper, cut some small slits water it up....and slipped those sprigs right in...worked like a charm...told ya...genius!!!!! Never even had to water it again!  We moved them into a hamster habitrail and kept them well suplied with food. It was our first experience in watching all stages close up and personal in the comfort of our home. My five year old son, Nick, loved it, we watched everyday as they first hatched, then grew, then each, one by one turned into a Chrysalis and then finally, they all reapeared as beautiful black and yellow butterflies. 

We released them on a moderately chilly night that December, amongst the Christmas lights in the shrubs in front of our kitchen window. My son took each out so carefully and let them go. They stayed around for a little while over the next couple days or so, we would keep count each time we saw “one of our brew”. It was a great experience and a wonderful memory! 

   

    Speaking of Butterflies..this is my advise..... If you want butterflies in your garden, first you must determine the butterflies native to your area and then you must plant their host plants. So many people try to lure them in with flowers, which works temperarily, but to keep them, give them what their babies need...FOOD. 

And never ever use pesticides. If you have a plant or flower that is a bug magnet, get rid of it or move it to another part of the garden where the butterflies do not visit. I find that if I give nature time, it takes care of itself. Just when I think the thrips or aphids are going to get the best of the roses in the garden, the first rains appear or the ladybugs come and keep them in check. My garden is full of pests actually, that is part of the great allure for the kids...they just love the creepy crawlies.  As it turns out, it is very seldom that I have to resort to any sort of pesticide. We do rid ourselves of the ant mounds though, and when the occasional VERY large bannana spider shows up,  I ask my husband kindly to remove it from the garden. How he does it is up to him, as long as it goes. I hand pick the hornworm catpillars that devour my Pentas. Even though they turn into Sphinx moths, they will strip a plant in a single night. The Pentas (pentas lanceolata) are the cream of the crop for my Butterfly gardening, they must be protected though if there is a freeze. I believe if  I was limited to one host plant and one flowering nectar source for butterfly gardening, I could be succesful in Central Florida with just Passion Vine, and lavender Pentas.  

    As I get refocused on my butterfly gardening..I will be researching some new host plants and nectar sources for my area of central Florida...But I will surely include my Pentas...Three of which I have already picked up, along with a new butterfly weed, and some tri-color lantana! (lantata camera).... Yea!...it's already getting exciting and I haven't planted a thing yet! Please stay tuned in...My goal is to lure some more Zebra Longwings in too, now that I know they will come here! ......heck, maybe she laid eggs over the weekend....hmmmm, I may have to dig out a flashlight right now and go check for some cute lil black and white cats out there! Please leave me a comment and share with me what flowers you plant to bring butterflies into your garden...or what suggestions you may have for my Fl zone 9 garden...

   Well in a few hours winter will have arrived....and we are still expecting 80 again tomorrow...but it's okay! This is a great time of the year.....! I wish each and every one of you a most joyous holiday season! God Bless and spread some seed ;).....  Janine

It all started with a drive......

and some Wildflowers

    I once expressed to my future husband years ago while driving down a country road that I desired to live where the wild flowers grow. Then I asked...where is that? He motioned to the ditches near the roadway we were on. "There is where the wild flowers grow.".... I looked in amazement. Hmmm Maybe he had misunderstood my question because he was pointing out the most common of weeds that grew in this very hot and humid state. The Spanish needles and the lavender skullcaps lined the road on that spring day. "Not those!" I replied. But as we finished that drive home, I have to confess I saw every speck of yellow, pink, white and lavender that was growing among the green grass. Where had they all been before? I never looked at weeds the same again. That Easter I picked hundreds of skullcap's from an unmowed field and placed them in a large vase. I carefully placed a large lavender ribbon around it, and wa—la, It was beautiful. At least to this beholder it was. What I never knew, is when you get that many skullcap together, they smell very good. A nice light sweet fragrance filled the house. I often add our Florida wild flowers to my garden picks now, and when my garden is not in abundance in the fall, yellow Golden Rod and purple Beauty berry look fabulous together in a big mason jar. We have wonderful wild flowers here in Florida. From the Purple Passion vine to  our beautiful Orchids. But the most beauty I see is along the roadsides, in the margins of the drainage ditches, where simple things like Blue eyed grass or pickerel weed is blooming. Alot of the easiest wild flowers to grow here are propagated naturally on disturbed sites. If you happen to live in a area where there are residential lots cleared but not yet built upon. Watch for a single season, the native grasses and wildflowers will surely take hold. It amazes me how quickly Nature changes a landscape by just seed, quicker then if we planted 3 foot trees there ourselves...there is just something...well....natural about letting Nature take root at it's own discretion rather than our own...It is best not to take wild flower plants indiscriminately, some are protected by law, some are on private or state property. But most will germinate if you collect seeds at the end of the season, with permission. Contact your local extension office, they can help you in this matter. They can usually guide you to a nursery that specializes in natives. So this November as you drive along the highways and the country roads...take a look...the wildflowers are blooming!