I know what you are talking about...I wanted so bad a butterfly garden...what I didn't understand is that the catapillars eat everything in sight...I mean my plants were practically decimated...I will tell you this though...I saw a big lantana that at one point had about 200 butterflies on it...It was an amazing sight...

Tess,

Tell you husband to stay his hand with the sprayer, and do not try to relocate the caterpillars. They are most likely Gulf Fritillarys (a lovely orange butterfly) that use the passion vine as a host plant. The vine will recover. Our two year old vine was reduced to a few strings, no leaves, and it recovered nicely.Have pity on the Frits! If you plant Greggs Blue Mist (Boneset) nearby, you will have a host/nectar habitat for the butterflies.

Marlingardener...does that mean they will eventually be done and look nice again? It may be that I just need to move it somewhere so that it's less noticably scavenged.

Here's an idea. If you have an out of the way place in your yard that isn't seen much, you could plant a second one. Then, when you see cats on your good plant you can move them to the other one. That way, you can foster the butterflies and still have your good plant to look at. I'd hate to see anybody spray butterfly larva.

Tess,

The passion vine will recover, but every year you will have leaves disappear as the caterpillars eat them. Debndal's advice is good--plant another in a less conspicuous place. However, the butterflies don't always have the same esthetic values we do, and are likely to move in on both vines. But, with two to "nosh" on, you may have less depredation. Have you considered just enjoying the butterflies?

Marlin, it isn't that I don't enjoy butterflies it's that, on the advice from this forum actually, I planted the PF in a very visable planter on my back deck as virtually the only greenery there. It was lovely for a bit and now is a mass of strings with a zillion cat's and a few leaves on it, which is fine as a host for butterflies but not so much as the lovely exotic I thought I was putting right outside my door.

Debndal, thank you...I did move the PF last night to a much less conspicious place and will look for another, less popular with wildlife, plant for my deck. I'm thinking a plumeria...

I agree, leave the cats. Get some more PF vine and put them in less conspicious places... my PF's look like crap by the middle of the summer but I love the butterflies so it's worth it.

Plumeria are great for decks...PF is a great plant but not one for displaying. Thanks for saving the cats. :)

Tess, you are a good person for moving the PF vine. :-)

Carla in Rowlett

Tess. I don't know what zone you are in, but I got a Spicy Compact Jatropha at HD (2-3' specimen) a few weeks ago and it's a great patio plant. Does well in sun or shade, lush foliage (tri-lobes) red clusters of flowers. It's not hardy in DFW so I'll have to *figure something out this winter* but it's soooooo pretty. So far, nobody is eating on it - I love it!
I've heard plumeria is host plant for Sphinx moths, so you might have a similar problem. I know the Sphinx moth cats decimate my pentas every year.

Wow, thanks for the heads up debndal...I'll definately double check the plumeria/moth issue! I'm in Austin but it will go in a pot so I'll also look at the jatropha.