Wow it seems you have a lot of butterfly plants. So I can only give testimony on what plants have worked best for me.

I have several passionflowers: red Lady Margaret, Possum Purple (for fruit) and Incense (purple). Gulf fritillaries ignore the first two and LOVE "Incense". I also have some of the native passifloras hidden in bushes that may also attract them.

It's not the wrong time of year in my yard, dozens ever day.

I have found that growing their "larval" plants keeps 'em coming back because every yard has flowers but they NEED a place to lay their eggs.

Christmas cassia which is now in glorious yellow bloom attracts the yellow sulfurs, orange barred sulfurs, cloudless sulfurs, etc. There are several tall shrubs of it and we just bought a tree of it for the front yard. It is a larval plant and pretty too!

Citrus will bring in the giant swallowtail plus I have hercules club and wild lime (xanthofilum something) for the SW cats. Watch out both are thorny.

You seem to have everything they could want. Maybe you need to "import" some caterpillars onto your larval plants. I look for caterpillars on plants at the nursery and buy plant plus cats -cats are free :)

Have you been to Florida Native Plants nursery in east Sarasota? LOVE that place as well as Crowley's near them for larval plants that haven't been sprayed with pesticide.

Good luck. If you plant it they will come.

Denise

Thanks Denise...I'd forgotten about Florida Native Plants nursery and Crowley's!
Hmmm...maybe a road trip is overdue.

I have a similar situation, but think perhaps I have more stopping to feed in my yard. One question would be, how big are the plants you planted, especially, how much flower mass compared to your neighbors? Perhaps your plants need a couple more years to get bigger? I have sulfurs fluttering by and stopping some. Some others like gulf frits, queens, monarchs stay a little more.

Gary

The best butterfly attracter that I have in my garden is hands down the Mexican Sunflower. Along with sacrificial passion flower vine for the butterflys to lay eggs on and their catipillers to munch on. I have pictures on my garden blog if you are interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: South Florida Challenges

I agree that Gary has hit on a possible issue - size "could" matter. My 5-6 foot tall jatropha and cassia get the most hits but in contrast, even the seedling milkweed has cats on it.

I started with the jatropha, three largish clumps in the yard. I've since added citrus, firebush (hamelia patens), milkweed, and cassia. The jatropha has swallowtail, fritillary and monarchs nectaring. The citrus gets the giant swallowtail, the firebush gets the sulphurs, frits, and the occasional peacock and the cassia/senna ligustrina - oh my goodness! The sulphurs can't get enough. The milkweed is getting chomped now, the monarch cats will be going into chrysalis in the next few days. I had a passionflower but the frits decimated it and it didn't come back. I do need to get more larval plants out.

My plants came from Amerson's and Accent. Accent has a very good native/butterfly plant selection.

Lellie, I feel your pain. I can't get the birds to come to my feeders. I hear them up in the trees and in the neighbors' yards and I have plenty of butterflies for them to eat!!.

Haven't been to Amerson's in a couple of years...add that to my list...LOL

Birds????????
CJ: Can't get the birds either 'cept for the Ospreys, occassional hawk and some Bluejays.
If I wanna see birds, I walk across to the beach...LOL

Last year I had a multitude of migrating birds...again, perhaps its a bit early.

I am more inland, in Lakeland and am still having my Polydamas laying eggs on what is left of my massive Pipevine but those are about the only cats I am getting now. Monarchs are laying but haven't seen any cats, could be I am missing them. The others that I have larval plants for, if they lay eggs, the eggs aren't hatching. Still seeing Zebra Longwings, which didn't show up till Sept this year, Gulf Frits, lots of Sulphurs laying on my Candlestick Cassia. Every once in a while I will catch a Tiger or Giant Swallowtail nectaring on my Pentas or my Jatropha.

Larval plants are the key to having both the males and females hang around your yard during the summer time.

I was told when I planted to plant at least 3 of the same plant together in a triangular shape rather than rectangular. Some prefer shade, like the ZLW and you need trees to have them be able to roost at night. My Polydamas roost in my Crepe Myrtles and it is a delight to see them "fall' out of the trees in the morning.

Also if your neighbors do much spraying of pesticides, that will keep the flutterbys flying high out of your area. I am lucky my immediate neighbors don't but you can tell the yards that are sprayed regularly. You seldom see a butterfly flying around their houses.