Butterflies Flutter By
Attracted by flowers and larval food plants, butterflies are paying a summer visit to Ann Marie's garden.  Most common are the Texas Crescentspot.  These little charmers with white spots on brown wings may be no more than one inch wide but their constant movement adds life and interest to the garden.  They lay their eggs on the shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana) and the Dicliptera brachiata that occasionally appear in the garden.  Both plants, at times, look downright ragged from the chewing caterpillars, .

Early in the summer dill plants attracted egg laying swallowtail butterflies.  One morning two dozen striped caterpillars were counted on one plant!  They caught not only Ann Marie's eye but also the much more perceptive eyes of birds in the garden and the number of future butterflies were much reduced by nightfall.

Giant Swallowtails have only recently begun appearing in the garden.  These are usually present all summer and are often seen laying eggs on the potted citrus plants in the garden.  Ann Marie is sure to find some of the "bird dropping" caterpillars soon after these large swallowtails begin fluttering by.

One of the the delights last December was the Christmas appearance of Gulf Fritillary butterflies on the unheated glass porch.  A yellow passionflower vine, Passiflora citrina, had been  brought in to protect it from frost and brighten the sitting area.  The black caterpillars with red stripes and black spikes came close to defoliating the plant but then, much to holiday guests surprise, butterflies began appearing.  The vine was returned to the great outdoors when the days warmed and has grown vigorously over the summer.  Fritillaries are frequently seen in the yard and the caterpillars are easily found as they chomp, chomp, chomp.

Other plants in the garden that attract butterflies are Asclepia (butterfly weed, larval food for monarchs) and in a newly planted garden designed to attracted more of the "flying flowers", the nectar laden blooms of salvias, rudbeckia, sedum and eupatorium.  Throughout the yard lavender, Aloysia and lantanas also attract butterflies.  There can never be too many plants!

In late summer a yellow flowering Cassia sp. brightens the yard both with its blossoms and with the sulfur butterflies that dance around it.  The caterpillars that appeared last fall are a mystery.  They don't fit book descriptions of larva of the various sulfur types of butterflies.   If you can identify it please e-mail Ann Marie.  She is far more knowledgeable about plants than butterflies, the reference books she uses are Butterfly Gardening For the South by Geyata Ajilvsgi, The National Audubon Society Pocket Guide Familiar Butterflies of North America, and Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars by Amy Bartlett Wright.