Lepidoptera are waiting
By H. Jean shields
Spring gardening is under way and there are some lovely, graceful and speedy creatures waiting for a place in our gardens. We normally know these lovely ones as butterflies. Every country has a name of their own for butterflies. The Italian name is Farfalia. I am not going to name all the rest of the countries, at this time.
It is so easy to attract butterflies; in fact maybe you have some flitting about already. If you do not, while you are out buying flowers and plants choose a couple of nectar plants and a host plant and they shall come.
Butterfly weed, milkweed, lantana, marigolds, asters, pentas and cornflowers are a few of the nectar plants. The one host plant I specifically buy is parsley. I just put a large clay pot of curly parsley out near some of the nectar plants and that works fine for me. You can get on the computer, buy books or check with the Lee County Extension Service to learn about a lot of other plants. I always plant some lantana and that will double as a host plant.
All butterflies start as tiny eggs. The female butterfly lays eggs on a host plant and then they will come become a beautiful – to some people – caterpillar. This will be one hungry little critter. It will strip a stalk of lantana right to the bone. Then it will continue onto it’s next life cycle and in several weeks will be hatching out of its delicate hanging chrysalis. This is a simple, short version of the life cycle of a butterfly.
I am not writing a book here so please, if you are interested, get to the bookstore, the library, or above mentioned avenues and learn more.
Manatee Park has a nice display of the life cycle of the butterfly, and they have a lot of butterflies flying around.
The butterfly needs to have a body temperature of at least 86 degrees to fly and that means that early summer to late summer will be the best time for a lot of butterfly sightings. There are a few flitting about even now. There seem to be several of the bright yellow sulphers. I think all the strong winds are not helpful at this time.
Butterflies see the colors red, green and yellow, however they do not like the red passion vine and do seem to enjoy the blue porter weed.
A gardener can be real specific about planning a butterfly garden or laid back about what they plant and they will definitely end up with some butterflies. It is fun though to check around the lantana and find the delicate little chrysies bags hangings and maybe even be there when a moist young butterfly comes wiggling out to dry off its wings and begin its short life.
Butterflies do not drink from open water so a shallow clay dish with some wet sand is a treat for them. They also like to have a rock or two they can perch on.
Other things that butterflies do not care about are ready to be planted now. The easy-to-grow caladium bulbs, planted in some light shade around trees or in a container, will even grow well if you forget and plant the little bumps, on the bulb, down instead of up. Water well for first couple of weeks. The more sun they get the more water they will need.
Easter lillies can be planted in the ground also. They never seem to do as good for me the next year but you never know until you try. Do not cut them back too much they need the foliage for now. Cut it when it is all yellowed.
Coleus, dusty miller, impatiens and zinnias, lots of things are in the market now. Try some herbs. They like mostly the sun and need good drainage. Try a few in a pot to get started. Morning sun is great and there must be good drainage. My favorite is Cuban oregano, it is variegated and very hardy even when I let it get too dry. Parsley, inside the lanai, because it is for me, not the butterflies.
The many basils and mints are fun to grow. I do not cook with them as much as I should but do get the mints into ice tea a lot.
We just had a good drenching rain this week so watch out for rapid growth of all things. I have already picked two sweet gardenia blooms from a large bush. It does show signs of sooty mold already. The heavy rains should help that problem a lot. Do not trim gardenia bushes now that the flowering is starting.
Happy planting until we meet again.
H. Jean shields
Past President
Garden Club of Cape Coral