A Petite School Butterfly Garden

Another project I was working on recently was installing a small butterfly garden at my children's school garden. We had a limited budget and small space but lots of enthusiasm!

Here is the space before... lots of weeds and too much shade. However, there was one existing milkweed plant. It always amazes me how they manage to grow in less than ideal circumstances.

The children helped clear the area of debris and weeds. We added nectar (zinnias, marigolds, pentas) and host plants (milkweed and parsley), mulch, and bricks for edging. Some of the milkweed plants were transferred from other parts of the garden where they had just popped up.

The children were so eager to work in the garden - it was impressive. And they were so excited to find caterpillars in the garden just two weeks later. Success!

Looking for caterpillars

More Summer Snapshots!

I found this chubby caterpillar crawling up the milkweed this morning. Maybe he was looking for a good place to spin his chrysalis?

Monarch caterpillar

This Monarch butterfly stayed still for this photo longer than I expected. Monarchs really enjoy sipping the nectar from our Butterfly Bush.

Monarch on Butterfly Bush

My dear friend Donna (who is a wonderful photographer!) sent me this beautiful shot from her garden. Purple coneflowers are one of my favorite nectar plants. The bees like them too!

Donna Williams Photography

Summer Snapshots!

In the garden today...

Gulf Fritillary on purple Vinca

Young Black Swallowtail caterpillars (3) on parsley
in the kitchen garden. I need to plant more parsley!

Yay! We are Monarch Waystation 6425!

There was a recent story on NPR's Science Friday about the serious decline of the Monarch population.  Dr. Lincoln Brower, a biologist,  was interviewed about this sad news and he encouraged listeners to plant more milkweed! You can play an active role in this by planting a Monarch Waystation. By planting milkweed, you can help sustain Monarchs during their incredible migration.

We have been working towards getting our butterfly garden certified as a Monarch Waystation and we finally did it! Here is our sign hanging proudly in the garden.

You can learn more about working towards and certifying your butterfly garden here. It can be a small garden or a large garden - just plant milkweed!!

Please let me know if you have any questions about establishing your Monarch Waystation! I'm happy to help!

Snapshots!

I have been busy with several gardening projects this week but I wanted to share a few quick pics with you from the garden today. Temperatures have been staying in the 80s around here so I have seen more butterfly activity in the garden recently.

Monarch with Tropical Milkweed and Giant Milkweed

Monarch caterpillar  - he helped me teach a butterfly class to 3 year olds this week!

Mini Butterfly Garden Valentine's Day Gift

How about this mini butterfly garden for Valentine's Day? I spotted it at Whole Foods and it's filled with parsley, dill, and fennel. These are all host plants for the Black Swallowtail butterfly. XOXO!

Monarch Butterflies Booklet

I picked up this great booklet, Monarch Butterflies, at our recent trip to the Butterfly Rainforest. It is very informative and so pretty to look at! One side provides lots of information about Monarchs and the importance of milkweeds. I especially like how they highlight Florida's native milkweeds. The other side has many photos of caterpillars and their respective host plants.

This is so great... you can download your copy here (side 1) and here (side 2)! Enjoy!

The Owl Butterfly

We saw one of my favorite butterflies, the Owl Butterfly, during our recent visit to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Rainforest. It is a large butterfly that grows up to 8 inches and has huge eye spots resembling owls' eyes on its wings.  It is native to Central and South America.

Owl Butterfly by Greaterumbrage via Flickr

I learned some new facts about these butterflies from the lepidopterist at the butterfly rainforest.  There were many Blue Morpho butterflies flying about and the underside of their wings looks quite similar to the Owl Butterfly. The difference is the Owl Butterfly has one "eye" while the Blue Morpho has several "eyes." 

Blue Morpho by Armando Maynez via Flickr

Another fact I learned is there are nocturnal, diurnal, and crepuscular butterflies. The Owl Butterfly is crepuscular, meaning it is most active during twilight. Now there is an SAT word for you!

Places: Florida Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Rainforest

I have visited many butterfly gardens and my all time favorite is one not too far from our home. It is the Florida Museum of Natural History's Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, Florida. We lived in Gainesville for several years while my husband and I worked at the university there. This garden was and still is one of my favorite places. We took a trip up there this weekend...

Entrance to the Butterfly Rainforest

Lush vegetation, water features, koi, turtles, birds, and LOTS of butterflies!

The Butterfly Rainforest has an amazing variety and number (1000) of butterflies!

My little guy "reading" the butterfly and plant identification guide (yes, it is upside down!)

Blue Morpho

Nymph, Tree in Pentas

Nymph, Tree

This one was tough to identify, maybe a Tiger-Mimic, Queen? 

Malachite -one of my favorites!

Butterfly Feeding Station

Beautiful Bromeliads

More Bromeliads

Angel Trumpet

Butterfly releases everyday

You can watch the lepidopterists care for the chrysalises and butterflies in this laboratory.

Families: I saw a sign stating that students who receive an 'A' or 'E' (i'm assuming 'E' means excellent?) grade in science can receive free admission (with the purchase of a paid adult admission). Just show your most recent report card!

Flight of the Butterflies

We spent Thanksgiving with some dear friends in the Washington DC area and were able to take the kiddos to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  I jumped at the opportunity to see Flight of the Butterflies at the Johnson IMAX theater there. It was AMAZING! It is a stunning and inspiring film about the discovery of the monarch butterflies' epic migration by Dr. Fred Urquhart. I would definitely check it out in a theater near you!

Giant Swallowtail

The variety of butterflies that I've been able to attract to the garden at our "new" house verses our "old" house still surprises me. I recently found a Giant Swallowtail for the first time flying about my Meyer Lemon tree and sipping from the Lantana.

To my delight, she laid some eggs!

The Giant Swallowtail is commonly found all over Florida. Well, Florida IS known for its citrus and this is the Giant Swallowtail's host plant. You may have heard of the "orangedog?" This is the common name for its caterpillar which is sometimes considered a pest to citrus growers. Large citrus trees can tolerate loosing some leaves to orangedogs but young, smaller ones might have a difficult time.  It is a large yellow and black butterfly averaging 5 1/2 inches wide. Note it's yellow body in my photo above.  

In case your wondering, her caterpillars did not do much damage to my lemon tree at all - there were definitely enough leaves to share!

References: 

McAuslane, H.J. (2011).  Giant Swallowtail, Orangedog, Papilio cresphontes Cramer (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in134 .

Places: Pollinator Garden, San Diego Zoo

We recently travelled to San Diego for a family wedding. What a beautiful city! I loved seeing the Pacific Ocean, roses in bloom, succulents in lovely containers, and fuchsia bougainvillea.  Yes, the weather is perfect there!

We made our way to the San Diego Zoo and it was amazing!

I was delighted to find this garden there...

Bees, Butterflies, & Hummingbirds (Three of my favorite things)

There were brightly colored nectar plants like butterfly bush, pentas, zinnias, lantana, and coneflowers.

And lots of milkweed growing in the greenhouse and in front of it.

Wow, I would love a greenhouse full of milkweed!

The garden has plenty of winged visitors like this monarch.

For more information about the San Diego Zoo, click here! Happy gardening!

Nemo?

So I logged in to Facebook and I see a new posting from my brother (not a gardener, but he is a great photographer): "Anyone wanna tell me what this is that I found on my porch screen today?"

Photo by Jason Cordoba

I knew it was a caterpillar and I was so jealous because I have never found one of these in my garden (or any garden)! He received responses like "corn snake," "it's so cute," and my favorite, "you FOUND Nemo!" Well, this is a Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar. I love it's dramatic color and "eyes." This caterpillar is a great mimic and uses this talent to ward off predators. In it's early stage, it resembles a bird dropping. Then as it molts, it develops a green color (later orange) and eyes to resemble a snake.

I'm going to check out my brother's yard and look for the Spicebush Swallowtail's host plants: Sassafras, Spicebush, Camphortree, and Red Bay. Maybe I can steal a few cuttings for my garden ;-) .

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly by bobistraveling via Flickr

References: 

Butler, J. & Hall, D. (2000).  Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus Linnaeus (Insecta:  Lepidoptera: Papilionidae. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN32500.pdf .