I'm not too, too far from you, I'm in Glenside PA. The only butterflies and caterpillars I've seen so far are Black Swallowtails. But, I have lots of fennel for them to lay eggs on, so if I didn't have that I probably wouldn't have seen them. LOL.

JD,

I'm in New Jersey, and I have to say I've had the same experience as you. Like you, I'm a novice, but I've planted dill, parsley, swamp milkweed, tropical milkweed, butterfly weed, butterfly bush, purple coneflower, coral honeysuckle, beard tongue, spicebush, black cherry, and many more native perennials. I still haven't seen a single butterfly or caterpillar! Nothing is really in bloom yet, so I guess I'm not surprised about the butterflies, but I did expect to see a caterpillar by now. But I'm still optimistic!

I have a well established, diverse butterfly garden that had a banner Monarch year last year. I have seen only Black Swallowtail cats/eggs so far, which is pretty typical. I generally don't expect much activity until late June or July, when everything is in full bloom and the heat/sun are in full swing. I'm in Michigan, but I'm probably in similar circumstances. Be patient. I've been gardening for the butterflies for 5+ years, and things are finally really satisfying. It doesn't help that my garden is quite shady and the darn trees get bigger every year. But, I don't have to deal with the horrible heat, either. Keep up the good work.

Martha

In years past, I have had an abundance of butterfly visitors. However, this year has been a disappointment. Here in SW Texas, we are experiencing an exceptional drought, we are currently down over 14 inches of rain since Jan 1.

I am hopeful that the reason the butterflies have been absent is due to the weather. I know there are other parts of the country that are experiencing wild extremes, floods, droughts, fires, etc.

My butterfly weed is ready for the cats, it is the fullest I have ever seen it at this time of year. So, hopefully, they will return soon.
Mechelle

June and May are historically the months when "they" show ...

... by "they", I mean that the posts asking "Where are the butterflies?" start showing up on the gardenweb forum.

Which is to say, July, August, and September are usually the months when the butterflies come out in quantities.

Keep looking!

Jeff

We are an impatient lot are we not? :)

I was going to ask if there were any BFs anywhere in Virginia except Mike's house! lol

I've seen quite a few GSFrits, 2 Red Spotted Purples, 1 female Tiger Swallowtail and 1 BST. That's all.

It is really dry here, too. It will rain all around us, but not at our house. We are situated between 2 mountains and they hold the rain clouds back.

We spend every evening watering.

Betty

This is a a very unusual year for me also. I have seen very few butterflies. What is particularly worrisome is that I now have no monarchs. I had some that made it through the winter months and then all of a sudden they were gone.

In Central Florida it has been very dry, lots of small wild fires around. The drought, combined with some hard freezes last winter is what I blame for this condition. It has rained the last few days, so I'm hopeful that things are going to turn around soon.