My Butterfly Birthday Sweater

We had  a week of serious rain here in 9B last week. Then on my birthday last Friday, the rain stopped and the sun broke through. Now my butterfly garden is teeming with flowers and tiny caterpillars.  I can't wait to see everything grow! As they say, "April showers bring May flowers."

I received the perfect sweater for my birthday and I thought I'd share it with you Monarch lovers out there. It's called the Stripe Monarch sweater...

Here's a fun one for you :-) ...

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!

Butterfly Life Cycle Models

Sometimes I give talks in our community about butterfly gardening. I especially love talking to children about the life cycle of butterflies. They are always so curious and eager to learn about "bugs." I found this fun teaching tool for my next presentation at the Butterfly Rainforest's gift shop.

I always try to bring live caterpillars to my presentations but occasionally they are still too small or just not available. These models will will be fun for the children to touch and explore!  You can find them online here.

Passiflora 'Incense'

Hello butterfly gardening friends! I know some time has passed since you last heard from me. My family moved into a new home and this was a much bigger task than I anticipated. There are still plenty of boxes to unpack but we are adjusting well to our new surroundings.

Did I mention we got a new puppy too??

Bailey, our Labradoodle

Well, a new house means a clean slate in the garden. I took what I could from my old garden - some milkweed of course, a stem from my white Angel Trumpet, some herbs... but most of this new garden will be new. I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head but unpacking all of those boxes has taken priority.

I did go by the local nursery a couple of weeks ago and couldn't resist buying this:

This is Passiflora 'Incense.' Now I try to grow native as much as possible but when I saw this striking purple color and smelled the beautiful flower, I had to have it! It has such a wonderful fragrance.  This passionflower is a hybrid of Passiflora incarnata (which is Native) and Passiflora cinnicata. Some of you may recognize Passiflora incarnata as Maypop.  P. 'Incense' is a fast growing vine that tolerates sun or shade and flowers from spring through summer. Sometimes people are hesitant to plant passionflower when I suggest it for their butterfly gardens because it grows so vigorously. I planted mine in a pot and it is doing great. There are lots of flowers and it has successfully attracted Gulf Fritillaries. We found 3 caterpillars munching on its leaves this week! 

In case you are wondering, I bought this passionflower (and pot) at Luka's and the trellis at Restore.

My Favorite Plant Sale

My favorite plant sale of the year is this weekend at Leu Gardens. Vendors from all over the state bring their plants and garden accessories. There is so much to choose from: herbs, flowers, orchids, succulents, citrus trees, Florida natives, etc. Admission to the gardens is free both days. The sale is March 17th and 18th from 9am-5pm.

This is a popular event so I have some tips for you:

1) Bring a cart or wagon for your purchases!

2) If you have been thinking about becoming a Leu Gardens member, now is the time. Members  shop first from 8am-9am on Saturday, the 17th.

3) Parking is tight so come early or later in the day. I usually park on one of the neighborhood side streets.

This is also an excellent opportunity to visit Leu Gardens' Butterfly Garden - one of my favorites!

Leu Gardens by Ricymar Fine Art Photography via Flickr

A Very Cute Chrysalis Kit

One of my favorite nurseries, Palmer's Garden and Goods, is having a huge sale today and tomorrow (25-60% ALL items). I stopped by this afternoon and saw this display next to the cash register...

Despite the fact that we have raised many butterflies, I felt inclined to purchase the pink and orange chrysalis container on the right. Besides we have never raised a Gold Rim Swallowtail butterfly and it was 25% off with the sale - see how easily I talked myself into this purchase? :-) They also have Monarch chrysalises available. I'll let you know how our newest addition progresses!

Chrysalis kits are $7.99 plus 25% off until tomorrow and come with complete instructions.

PBK & The Very Hungry Caterpillar

For you Pottery Barn Kids, butterfly loving moms out there, check this out...

Oh my goodness - I am just dying over this! I love how this theme is available for a boy or a girl. The terrarium next to the boy's bed is darling too - I see this little project in my children's craft future. You can caterpillarize the bathroom too...

That is an amazing green free standing tub!

Okay, I know this didn't have a whole lot to do with  gardening but I enjoy butterfly shopping almost as much! :-)

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Cute Butterfly Container

I recently parked my car in this special spot at Palmer's Nursery. How cute it that?

Butterfly Habitat for the Classroom

We found a number of caterpillars and eggs in our Milkweed recently so my daughter and I decided to put together a butterfly habitat for her classroom. We have "hatched" caterpillars numerous times. You might recall the Black Swallowtail from a previous posting. We used a recycled cheeseball container then. Well, this time we had Monarch caterpillars which feed on Milkweed. Milkweed is much taller than the parsley we put in the cheeseball container so we needed something new.

I prefer to put a live plant on our containers. It is much easier to maintain because the caterpillars have a constant supply of food. Then I later add  the host plant to the garden. I have tried putting branches in floral water picks but they seem to wilt quickly and thus need to be replaced quite often. I did a little online research but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.  So I decided to check out the gift shop at the Butterfly Encounter at Luka's Nursery. There I found the perfect indoor habitat for Monarch caterpillars:

It is a rectangular container with mesh on 5 sides. One side is transparent so that the caterpillars' metamorphosis can be viewed easily. The Milkweed plant fits well inside. I lined the bottom of the habitat with paper towels to make cleaning easy. Next, I placed a plastic saucer under the plant to catch any water. Make sure you throw out any excess water so the caterpillars do not drown in it!!

We moved the habitat into the classroom and the children are enjoying it. I spoke to them about the basics of the butterfly life cycle and they were full of questions. They asked "How many butterflies are in the world?" and "Do you know everything about nature?" They are so cute and enthusiastic!

Please let me know if you need help in establishing your butterfly habitat. I'd love to help you out!

Good Morning!

I am using my new coffee mug this morning...

Cute, huh?