This plant may be available to buy
Click the banana to see
|
Your Florida click pics to enlarge |
|
Zone Florida If you want butterflies in your Florida garden, you need plants ...two kinds of plants 1. plants on which caterpillars prefer to feed known as larval plants 2. plants that feed butterflies known as nectar plants
click pic to enlarge Nectar plants are those you usually think off as attracting bees like this nice fat bumblebee...
click pics to enlarge Before you can enjoy butterflies...
click pics to enlarge to feed caterpillars you need larval plants ...caterpillar critters like this fellow...
click pic to enlarge Female butterflies are attracted to plants that can feed caterpillars. Butterflies fly to those preferred plants to lay their eggs which hatch ...then develop into caterpillars which later emerge as butterflies Caterpillars eat the leaves of such plants
click pic to enlarge So, in supplying larval plants you need to allow the caterpillars to go ahead and eat your plants' leaves ...if you see the caterpillars and kill them off, you have destroyed the potential butterfly crop
click pic to enlarge
One other important consideration is to offer a nice variety of different butterfly
plants that bloom at various times of year ...so whenever butterflies are around,
you have nectar on hand
The vast majority of butterfly plants require a good amount of sun hours ...only partial shade is OK to raise flowering plants for butterflies
click pic to enlarge So what plants do butterflies and caterpillars like in South Florida? Shop for these plants...
|
|
Your Florida Guide to Butterfly Gardening, by Jaret C. Daniels The Family Butterfly Book, by Rick Mukula Butterflies in Florida, by Jaret C. Daniels Florida Butterfly Caterpillars and Their Host Plants, by Marc C. Minno, Jerry Butler North American Butterfly Association is here |
