Tom, zebra swallowtails are rare butterflies on this forum. I've only raised one batch myself, and unsuccessfully at that - only two made it to adulthood.
In Florida, they use the local, low growing pawpaws, but they might use common pawpaws, A. triloba - I don't know if the Floridians have a big preference for the locals or not.
Have you ever found a caterpillar on the ones five miles from your house? What type pawpaw grows there?
About the only thing I'd know to do is plant that type and keep your fingers crossed - they're persnickety butterflies.
Sherry

Hey, Sherry. The pawpaws in the park do have caterpillars and I do have some pawpaws that are the same as the ones in the park, but they are small now. I'm trying to remember the type of pawpaw that grows here. I will post again when I remember.

Thanks for the answer, Miss Sherry.

Tom - good to see you here. I am going to Leu Gardens on Saturday and have contacted one of the vendors who sells only Pawpaws. He says that the Pygme (SP?) is probably the best for my area or the Rectular (SP?). The Pygme has purple flowers. Tribola is not a good one for us here in Florida.

I am hoping to be successful with this Pawpaw. I have only seen one ZS in my yard, nectaring on the Hawthorne. My son sees them where he lives but it is more wooded swampy area.

Hi, Mary. I'm going on Sunday morning. I meant to email you and see if we could meet. I have soccer games on Saturday all day.

I have a pygmea. I think the one you are referring to is the reticulata. I believe the one most common here is the Asimina obovata. I think that is the one in the park.

He said that he had three kinds. I need a smaller one and will plant it under an oak - he said it would love it there so hoping it will.

Wish we could meet. Would be nice to finally put a face with a name.

Mary, pawpaws grow very slowly. If you have the money it might make sense to grow more than one. In my experience they don't hang around the larval plants very long. They really seem to roam.

Most of the ones at the park are growing out in the open in the sand. They seem to like soil that is mostly dry. I'm sure the reticulata likes more shade.

In reality, I can't differentiate them. I'm not sure if I have mostly obovata, pygmaea or reticulata. I know I have at least four different types. And I know that I don't seem to have ever attracted a zebra swallowtail to any of them.

Hmmm... I may be wasting my money then. Will have to look at them closely and decide. Always wanted to have one though, its the one larval plant that I am missing.

Polys have shown up. Finding eggs and tiny cats - gjood news, bad news, my vine is mostly new growth and if like last year, will only last a couple months before I am trying to find homes for babies.

Let me know what you get, Mary. I'll be talking to the people who sell pawpaws on Sunday. Looking forward to getting better educated on them. I have spent a lot of time and energy growing them. One of these days I'm going to get some Zebra Swallowtails visiting them.

No Zebra Longwings here yet, but have the Polydamas, Monarchs, Sulphurs, Fitillaries, Giant Swallowtails and a few Tigers around. No Eastern Blacks either.

Looking forward to getting more plants tomorrow.

I bought 2 Pygmeas.($15 each). She only had two kinds the Obovata, which grows larger and the Pygmea. Her name is Terri and she seems very knowledgable, gives precise directions for planting. The plants are tiny, tiny with only a couple leaves. I am willing to give it a shot - see what happens.

I also bought a False Nettles for the Red Admirals - actually saw one butterfly in the yard the other day. Seeing Sulphurs, Maonarchs, Polys, Giant and small Frits.

Hubby bought a Flatwoods Plum from the guy from Biosphere.

We looked around the gardens but it was so crowded around the butterfly garden area with vendors that you couldn't really stop in one place for long.

Tom - print yourself out a map of where the vendors will be - they do not provide maps so if you are looking for someone in particular, know ahead of time where it will be. Biosphere and Pietro's PawPaws are near each other.

Thanks for the advice, Mary. Sorry those pawpaws are so small. They take their time growing.

I will look them up tomorrow morning. Gonna get more butterfly plants, but no more pawpaws. I have a lot of them and a bunch of small ones also. The Falso Nettles do well in my garden and they come back from the freezes. I have some red admirals this year and had a few last year.

It's going to be a good year for butterflies.