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.