Over the last few months, we have been working on our butterfly garden. I worried that even though we planted the garden, that the butterflies would not come. Friends have told me that they have not had success with butterfly gardens. I am confident that the reason MUST be their pesticide use.
It is imperative that weed killers and other pesticides are NOT used anywhere near your butterfly garden. Actually, they should not be used at all.
The very weekend that we planted our backyard islands, we could see butterflies flying around them. The plants that we used were:
Milkweed: This is one of the BEST plants you could possibly have in your butterfly garden. The monarch butterflies LOVE it. We seem to see various butterflies around this plant throughout the day. This is the larval host plant for the Monarch Butterfly. Unfortunately, the monarch caterpillars in our yard don’t last very long due to the hungry wasps. I created a little “butterfly nursery” out of a spiral pop-up hamper that I bring the baby caterpillars to so that they will not be eaten. Inside the hamper, I have 3 small milkweed plants. These are more beautiful than I thought they would be.
Passion Vine: This is another absolute MUST in your butterfly garden. The passion vine is a host plant to 3 kinds of butterflies. Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Julia butterfly, and the Zebra Longwing butter fly. So far, we have only seen the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars and butterflies. They don’t have any predators in my yard, so there are tons of caterpillars.
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3:27 pm
[...] Passion Vine (Passiflora spp.—Suberosa, Incense, Incarnata) for the Zebra Longwing, Julia, and Gulf Fritillary [...]
2:52 am
[...] South Florida Butterfly GardenOver the last few months, we have been working on our butterfly garden. I worried that even though we planted the garden, that the butterflies would not come. Friends have told me that they have not had success with butterfly gardens. … [...]
9:31 pm
I love love love your site
6:51 pm
I planted two passion vines in my yard. They seem to be growing well, but have not flowered yet. I know I should not use insecticides, but should I fertilize? Same question regarding my pipe vine. The latter has more shade. None of these are in full sun, but the passion vines get quite a bit of sun.
Is there a site where I can go to see when plants in South Flordia are more likely to bloom and when butterflies are more likely to around. I live in the South Miami area.
are there nurseries you recommend for buying butterfly attracting plants. I am looking for some plants which can stand full afternoon sun and will not grow very tall. naturally, I would like pretty flowers.
Thank you
10:11 pm
Dear Butterfly garden lovers,
I enjoyed your site. I don’t have a site, just love to look up plants and info about butter-flies. My 85 yr old father started a butterfly garden in Kissimmee Retirement home a few years ago. They now have erected a butterfly house to watch from the dining room. He raised them and their nectar/host plants. He gave chrysalis in a wire cage to those sick and unable to get around. They could watch them for 7-10 days, and when they came out of their chrysalis, the elderly could open the window and let them fly away.
I’ll continue to watch your site, and the best of luck to you. Phyllis Straughan (Lake County, FL)
6:30 pm
I am planting a butterfly garden with my daughter.
My son has show Jersey cows and I need to know if passion vine and golden dewdrop and milkweed are toxic to the cows.
10:40 pm
Home Schooling is also nice since you got to always see your kids.
6:11 pm
I am in south florida. In March of this year I planted two passion vines in full sun next to my backyard fence. The vine is growing very fast and now covers about 24 feet of fence. It did not start to flower until early june and never has more then 25-30 flowers open at any one time. The flowers last perhaps two days. At any given time there are hundreds of buds. I don’t know if this is normal or if the buds are being eaten. I do see a few caterpillars but they are eating the leaves. Does anyone else ehave the same experience?
6:41 am
Fred B,
The Gulf Fertilary butterflies on our passion vines eat the flowers and buds all the time. It is obvious that they are doing so though. If you do not see them eating or you do not see bite marks, that is strange. Not sure what is going on.