Last week’s post about butterflies roosting on a porch brought out a flurry of butterfly pictures from reader Flowerfanatic, who shared them along with the story of how she turned her garden into a butterfly paradise:
Since birds, butterflies, and flowers have always been my main interest in life (after our 4 children left the nest) as I have to be nurturing something, I really started working with wildlife/gardening adventures. When we lived in IL before moving to FL in 2006, we had many hummingbirds who visited both our feeders and several of the flowering plants we grew. We had butterflies of all kinds that called our yard ‘home’ so when we moved to FL I did my homework to find out what kinds we’d find in our county. We built a new home so had a whole yard to devote to planting just the right plants for all the butterflies who we’d find there.
These are spectacular, thanks so much for sharing them!
Oooh so purty and such variety! Thank you for sharing!
Ooooh, pretty… 🥰
Oh Wow!!! Thanks for sending those pictures Lois. What a wonderful way to devote one’s time, raising butterflies. So cool.
Fabulous! Such gorgeous creatures. I’m particularly enamored of the elegant black one with the row of small , either white or pale green, shapes along the bottom edge of the wings – I think it’s the seventh picture.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing my butterfly pics with the group. And, thank you all for your comments. I devoted my life to caring for wildlife (bird feeders, nests, etc.), sharing our yard with a beautiful (YES, HE WAS BEAUTIFUL!!) Black racer (snake) who I developed a great understanding with, numerous frogs and lizards, wandering deer in our neighborhood, armadillo, wild boars (who loved to ravage the flower beds), panthers, etc.
My caring nature as a nurse probably led me to also care for the creatures who we share this planet with and doing whatever I could for them to have what they needed to live.
Yes, we lived out in the country in a small subdivision and loved sharing our home with the natural fauna in the area. We had no black bears as they hadn’t migrated as far south as we lived.
My biggest heartbreak was moving to senior living in AZ where I don’t have the opportunity to work with them any longer. Age has caught up with me but I still feed hummingbirds and other small birds at my sugar water feeders but can’t put out bird seed as it attracts not only birds but undesirable creatures such as mice and rats and we don’t want those to get into our building.
Again, thank you all for your interest in one of my wildlife loves!!
Take care,
Lois
Here are the names of the butterflies I sent pics of. The greenish one is a Sulphur. The Pipevine is the one with a single row of yellow spots on its lower wings. I think most people recognize the Monarchs. The white one is a White Peacock. The small greyish one is a Skipper Longtail (for obvious reasons!!). The orange one is a Gulf Fritillary. And the HUGE black one with blue wing edges is a Black Swallowtail. And, finally, the Florida state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing which is my favorite!!
Those are wonderful! Glad that you enjoyed the wildlife in your other homes and hope that you can find ways to enjoy the local fauna where you live now.
Lovely photos and lovely soul you have, Lois.
Thank you, Deb. I feel we all can help in some way to keep the beautiful wildlife we are privileged to encounter in our environment to continue to flourish. Some are so endangered they may not last much longer which would be so sad. Plus helping them gives us a way of watching their beauty fairly close up with their encounters in our own yards which isn’t difficult at all to accomplish. So put out a bird bath, plant trees/flowers, etc. that they use as food, give them a place to raise a family, etc. Then put a chair on the patio and sit down and watch the action. Plus take pictures for posterity!! 🙂
So very well put Lois!!
And thank you so much for the wonderful pictures. 🦋🦋🦋
When I xeriscaped my front yard, I chose garden plans meant to attract pollinators. The nice folks at Garden In A Box actually selected the plants–all I had to do was buy their package and have my lawn person follow their layout! I get lots of monarchs and bees, which makes me very happy. And I don’t have to water these drought-tolerant plants.
As I’ve heard the saying go, “Plant them and they will come!!” I find it fascinating that butterflies, birds, etc. can somehow ‘sense’ a food source is available when there have been none previously. I planted ONE Meyer orange tree to attract the Giant Swallowtail and figured it was probably useless. One day when my son, daughter-in-law, and husband were in the back yard together I spotted my first GS!! IT WAS HUGE!! I started hollering and running like a crazed person I was so excited. I finally told them WHY I was so excited. We didn’t have those gorgeous butterflies in Illinois so I was thrilled they showed up at our new home in FL. I’d never seen a butterfly that big before.
Those are beautiful, Lois- thank you for sharing!
Last night I found a female polyphemus moth ( https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/MOTHS/polyphemus_moth.htm) in our backyard. She was unfortunately deceased- not sure if it was due to the insane heat we’ve been having (I’m in the Pacific NW) or a predator. I don’t think I’ve seen a moth that big in our yard before- her wingspan was almost 6 inches!
Beautiful, Lois, thank you for sharing!
I’m happy that everyone has enjoyed seeing the pictures. It was definitely a VERY joyful period of my life having such beauty so close in my own yard to watch and care for. One spectacular picture I didn’t send was of Black Swallowtails enjoying the nectar in the flowers of our magnificent Orchid Tree. Sadly a hurricane uprooted the tree when it was about 8 years old and we had to have it removed. But watching all the flutterers when it was blooming was something to see!! The tree was about 20 feet tall and almost as wide!! Unfortunately they have a shallow root system.
WOO HOO!
I’m feeling butterfly-ish myself right now. BC COVID restrictions are being, for the most part, lifted!