Rhonda, would love to see your pictures. Is it this weird update not showing them? Glad I found the Butterfly Garden Forum at least.

Iris,

My original post showed the pictures but when it finally posted, they weren't there. I hate this format. The least they could do is put the forums in alphabetical order.

Beautiful pictures!

Is that a buddleia, Rhonda? Good luck with growing that. I have put them in large pots before and they did well initially, but then the roots go through the pot and the nematodes get them. I put the pots on cement and that didn't work either. The one thing that seems to work that I haven't tried is planting them next to a cement foundation; apparently the nematodes don't like the cement.

We had a hard rain yesterday--about an inch and a half in thirty minutes or so. Afterwards the hummingbirds came out. I saw at least four; all of them were either females or juvies. I have only seen this many once or twice before.

The butterflies are really out. I finally saw a black swallowtail after seeing many eggs and cats that they left behind.

Are you guys seeing many different kinds?

I'm not seeing many butterflies around here, only the giant swallowtail that is always flitting around my courtyard. The neighbors have a citrus tree, so I suppose that's what attracts her. I'm waiting impatiently for the monarchs to arrive and devour my milkweed, but none so far. Haven't even seen the lonely sulfur butterfly. I guess she'll show up when the Christmas cassia blooms, at least I hope so.

Love your butterflies and photos! I've had a few butterflies here, too!

Tom, yes it is a buddleia. I'm hoping that being in the 30 gallon pot with clean soil will help. It's doing great and getting huge...much better than any other one I have had in Florida. After getting 30 inches of rain in 2 weeks, we now are getting no rain and I'm actually having to water. Still no hummers yet.
Deb, this is going to be a banner year for butterflied for me, already much more variety than last year. Hopefully, you'll start seeing them more as it heats up. I'm hoping for more giants as we have added the ruby red grapefruit to our yard. I planted a new cassia and I have already seen several cats on it.

Thanks Love the yard!

Sultry, your buddleias are beautiful! I hope mine continues to thrive.

Rhonda

In my yard there's always lots of butterflys but I noticed many fly around ignoring the flowers. Today one kept flying all around the garden by-passing the flowers only to come back over and over again to the lime tree not in bloom. On close inspection of the lime tree theres some aphids on the new growth. I think they're drinking the aphid honeydew!

Florida Joes, I never thought about buterflies sipping aphid sap. Interesting!

The monarchs were swarming around here about 6 weeks ago, plenty of caterpillars but it has not been good. I don't know what is going on but most arrested halfway into turning into a pupa (chrysalis) and the ones that did manage to fully transform into a chrysalis just shriveled and died after a few days.

The same thing is happening with the giant swallowtail cats. I have not used any kind of insecticide or fungicide or any other chemical on any of my plants, so I am at a loss as to why this is happening.

Last year, I was spraying my plants with neem oil and did not have this issue. Strange!

Tom - that is not good news on the buddleias. I have a couple in pots and was planning to put them in the ground but will not do that now.

Sultry - I love that bicolor. I bought a bicolor online. It was an itty bitty little plant and died within a week. Where did you get your plant?

I bought a couple of others at the Green Thumb and they are doing much better.

FloridaJoes, Giant Swallowtails love to lay their eggs on lime trees. In my yard the tree that produces the most cats is the Wild Lime tree. I have never noticed any limes on this tree, but there are caterpillars from Giant Swallowtails.

• Vlm68 have you seen wasps around? There are a number of parasitoid wasps that lay eggs in caterpillars or eat them. Ants will also eat caterpillar eggs. There are different ways of protecting them, but probably the most effective is to have cages with fine netting that protects the cats. You will need to feed the cats with fresh leaves pretty much every day, however.

Tom - The eggs and the caterpillars are fine. The trouble seems to start after they start transforming into a chrysalis.

The picture in my previous post is of a monarch caterpillar that started to transform into a chrysalis but then the transformation stopped halfway, at the point you see in the picture.

Here is a chrysalis of a Giant Swallowtail outside my front door. After being attached to my wall for a couple of weeks, it just dried up and fell away.

There are a number of factors that could figure into chrysalis degradation. One of them is the eggs that some wasps insert into the caterpillars as they are developing and even in the chrysalis.

Varying habitats helps sometimes. Problems in one part of the garden don't always spread to other parts further away.

Wish I could be of more help.

Thanks, Tom. The monarchs are all in the back yard. My neighbor has a ton of milkweed planted right along our shared fence.

The giant swallowtails are all in the front of the house because all my citrus plants are there.

Rhonda, as you can see now the GardenWeb must have seen your post.

The list is now alphabetized. Good going. Your pictures are sure beautiful !

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn! I also just noticed that they are now alphabetized!! Woo hoo!!!