Wow! We don't have any plants green at this point, let alone blossoming. A friend of mine saw a mourning cloak, but they eat sap, which has been running for a while. I hope I get some BTS this year. Congrats.

Martha

I was in Ohio County, Indiana yesterday. Saw a bunch of TSTs but none would pose. This meadow fritillary was the only cooperative butterfly. Saw a few really small orange butterflies but they refused to land so I don't know what they were. I'd love to know.

I love Meadow Fritillarys so much. I have seen a bunch of flowering trees n my area that could be the food source but it has been so cold the past few days that I don't know if he is still alive.

That fritillary is gorgeous, KC! Like you, I've seen orange butterflies flying rapidly by, so fast that I couldn't identify them. I think I've seen variegated fritillaries twice, but I'm not sure.

Do you grow violets in your garden for the frits? I have tons of them for the variegated frits here, even though they prefer the passionvines/maypops. When the gulf frits have taken over the passionvines, the VFs will lay eggs on them, and I think they look nice at the base of the bigger plants.

Sherry

Sherry,
I was just discussing this with Ohio folks. I'm considering adding another violet species because I've never found frits on the standard Viola sororia I have. Only one person had ever found a frit caterpillar and it was on V. sororia. Lots of frits flying around but the caterpillars evade detection. The discussion was prompted by an article (linked below) that mentioned that frits want native violets. I made the assumption that V. sororia were non-native since they are everywhere and I have no cats but I found out they are native.

Butterfly Host Plants Facts

When I was in Indiana, I was just armed with a camera. The tiny orange butterflies were not strong flyers so a butterfly net would have really come in handy.

I put in Passiflora lutea three or four years ago for variegated frits. Have not gotten any yet. If I did get them, I'd probably run out of food because the vines just don't grow that vigorously, at least not yet.

KC

Around here, the variegated frits only use P. incarnata/maypops, KC. There is some P. lutea growing wild in the woods, but I've never found a caterpillar on it. Once, years ago, a gulf frit laid an egg on some, but that's it.

Also, we have two types of violets here, the P. primulifolia, a white flowering type, and the common, heart-shaped leaf, purple flowering variety, which go by a variety of scientific names, but I'll use V. floridana, since my Mississippi wildflower book calls them that. The variegated frits only use the common violets - I've never found a cat on the primrose leaf type.

Sherry