Enjoy your view
Have you heard the one about-coal miners carrying canaries in cages into the coal mines with them?
Well, even up into the Twentieth Century, this was true. Since canaries are especially sensitive to methane gas and carbon monoxide, a singing canary meant the miner’s air supply was safe, but, if he died, it was time to evacuate. This is now part of coal mining lore, but we use this to describe a warning signal that symbolizes our sensitive environment is full of pollutants. Butterflies and bees are declining, our harbingers of a healthy environment. Bees are the number one pollinators of our food supply and butterflies are the number two pollinators. They are necessary for our well being. If we can encourage and aid their lives, we are improving our own lives.
Surely there is room in your yard to garden for butterflies. Basically you need host/larval plants for eggs and caterpillars, then nectar plants to feed the butterflies. With just nectar plants, you temporarily attract butterflies for beauty, but this is just a fast food place for them to eat and run. Nectar plants are the backbone start of the garden. Attracting butterflies is the first priority of your garden.
Nectar plants with red, pink, and purple are the best attractors, but some butterflies like yellow, blue, and white as long as they are rich with nectar. The shape of the flowers is important because not all butterfly proboscis’, or tongues, are long enough for trumpet type blossoms. The proboscis is more like a straw to suck up the nectar and it rolls up when not in use. They have no mouth. The greater your variety of colors, shapes, and sizes of your plants, the greater the variety of butterflies. Just be sure they are varieties with nectar. Many spectacular or cute blooms have had the nectar bred out of them by enetic manipulation. Some butterflies nectar on dishes of rotted fruit, or in nature, dung, tree sap, and carrion. If you use plates of rotting fruit, place the bowl inside a pan of water to keep the ants from climbing in. Fire Bush (Hamelia patens), red, tall Pentas, Scorpions Tail, Golden Dewdrop, Mexican milkweed, Lantana, Porter Weed, Spicy and Coral Jatropha, Tropical Sage, Mexican Flamevine, Coral Vine and Honeysuckle are all good, general nectar plants.
Butterflies are very plant specific when it comes to laying their eggs. Their caterpillars have to eat right away after they hatch. Since most butterflies live only weeks, they must be about their business of producing youngens’, laying eggs, and nectaring. Larval host plants are so important. They may get chewed up, but for the most part, they rapidly grow back. As I wrote earlier, the coontie plant dictates the survival of the Atala. The Longwings, Julia, Zebra, and Gulf Frittalary, need Passion Vines. Vines in the sun attract the Gulf Frittalary, the ones in the shade are favored by the Julia and Zebra. Zebra Longwings are very community minded and roost together at night under the Passionvines and in bouganvilla. Sulphurs need Cassias or Sennas; Pipevine and Polydamus Swallowtails need Dutchmans Pipevine; Malachites like the Green Shrimp Plant as does the White Peacock, which also likes Water Hyssop; Painted Ladies favor Cudweed and some of the Mallow family and are the most wide spread butterfly species in the world, except in So. America and Antarctica. Parsley, dill, and fennel bring the Black Swallowtail. Citrus has the Orange Dog caterpillar which resembles bird poop, that when threatened, rears up and sends out two fleshy prongs emitting a disgusting odor. It turns into the Giant Swallowtail, the largest butterfly in America.
You can’t go wrong planting the Mexican Milkweed. I first planted milkweed to attract the aphids away from my other plants, and soon realized they not only nectared butterflies but attracted the eggs and caterpillars of the Monarch and Queen butterflies. Everyone is familiar with the Monarch and their 1,800 mile trek to central Mexico in the fall. All monarchs, east of the Rocky Mountains, go to central Mexico. Those west, go to California to hibernate from November to March. The males never come back. They mate and die there. The females start back, laying youngens’ along the way, never to return home but successions of youngens’ do it. Their life cycle expectancy is about 6 to 8 weeks from the egg thru to the butterfly. The egg lasts about 4 days, the caterpillar munches and grows for about 2 weeks, inside a chrysalis about 10 days, and as a butterfly, about 2 to 6 weeks, except for the Fall generation. They do the migration journey, and are equipped to survive longer. They go semi-dormant when reaching their destination, from November to March. It is estimated, this batch lives about 10 months.
When you see butterflies basking in the sun, wings spread wide open, they are using their wings as solar panels to sop up the sun. Being cold blooded critters, they can’t fly well when cold. They smell with their antennae and taste with their feet. All stages of the butterfly are sensitive to pesticides, even a slight drift from near-by spraying is bad, and you can’t use systemic pesticides on the plants they chew, or use organic bassilus thuringiensis (B.T.) on any plants because eating that plant kills the caterpillars.
When buying plants for the garden, buy pesticide free plants from a Nursery that specializes in pesticide free plants. Most big stores want to sell perfect looking plants, so these plants are loaded with pesticides right off the bat that will kill your caterpillars.
Since the Florida butterflies habitat is dwindling because of development and overuse of chemicals, we need to step up to the plate and provide new habitats to replace the ones destroyed. Research the needs of any particular butterfly you especially love, and enjoy their mystical, magical metamorphosis.
Welcome these jewels into your garden and view. Enjoy your view!
Joyce Comingore is a Master Gardener; Past President of the James E Hendry Chapter of the American Hibiscus Society and National Board member; Member of the Garden Club of Cape Coral