One of the first beautiful butterflies to appear in my garden 5 years ago was a Orange Barred Sulphur. I quickly did a lot of research on butterflies and caterpillars for my location and discovered that sulphurs are common. So, I continued my quest for more information about their species to include their host plants which are Senna or Cassia plants. The Senna plant comes in a variety of species. I started by buying native senna plants and my rewards have been beautiful.
This year the sulphur butterflies have been especially abundant in number. Daily sightings of a multiple sulphur butterflies bring beautiful brightness and childhood wonder in my garden. I have planted a variety of senna plants over the years and even grow them from seed now. My Sulphur butterflies really enjoy Candlestick Senna, Bahama Cassia, and Privet Senna. And the plants have beautiful bright yellow flowers bringing a extra beauty to the garden. I enjoy a the daily dose of observations watching the sulphurs butterflies.
From early morning I observe sulphur butterflies flying low between the plants ever so spirited. They appear to sense every leaf or plant they fly around, in and out like a beautiful angel. Recently I caught a photo of two mating on top of a large leaf of my philodendron plant. And one just sitting peacefully on a leaf of a Senna plant posing at me with her big twinkling eyes and alert antenna watching back at me.
The Candlestick Senna (Senna alata) plant has grown beautifully in my garden. I started with seeds from last years seed pods, transplanted them as 1 gallon plants and now my Candlestick Senna is an 8 foot tree with a tropical appeal. The senna has multiple branches with veined green leaves that unfold like a fan and spread out into a thick branch with an abundance of yellow brightly colored Candlestick spires. There are multiple small yellow flowers filling each spire. This seems to be a favorite plant for sulfur butterflies to use as host plant. The beautiful yellow flowers attract other pollinators who love the nectar as well. But the ants sure do enjoy tracking up and down the Candlestick tree, my research says nectar glands below the leaves attract the ants and unfortunately many sulfur eggs do not survive. Nature has quite a interesting way of balancing itself…..but that’s another blog post.
WOW…the spring and summer of 2022 has been very active season in my garden for butterflies and other pollinators as I expand and expand my plants some more…. everyday in my garden is grounding to the maximum! Nurtures my soul, bring such joy back when life gets filled with daily chaos!
The Spring started out with growing plants from seed and learning about each plant species. I keep a spreadsheet of all plants I grow in my butterfly garden. Adding new plants brings different species of butterflies also. Each butterfly species has host plant preferences to lay their eggs on. They also have nectar plant preferences which I observe in the garden. Believe it or not they each have there own what I call personality. For example the Monarch Butterfly loves milkweed and senses it what seems like miles away. As soon as I plant or start growing milkweed there’s a Monarch who suddenly flies in to check it out.
On any given day you can visit my Butterfly Garden and observe 10 different species of Butterflies. Some stay most of the day while others like the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly visits, lays eggs, enjoys nectar then flies away with beauty and grace. But the Black swallowtail swoops in on my fennel, parsley lays eggs, enjoys nectar on my plants and often I don’t observe there presence but find their eggs and cats on my herbs. There is always something to observe in my butterfly garden.
Species that are observed on most days are Monarchs, Orange Barred Sulfurs, Swallowtails, Zebra Longwings, Skippers, Gulf Fritillary, Dusky wings, White Peacocks, Cassius Blues and others less frequently observed (I’m not in the garden 24 hours a day) Red Admirals, Queens and Hairstreaks.
One of the most eloquent butterflies to observe in my garden are the Zebra Longwings. They flt around plants in the garden gracefully with their long narrow wings are black with pale yellow stripes. Butterfly Fun Facts: zebra longwings or zebra heliconian are the State Butterfly of Florida. They like other butterfly species have their favorite nectar plants like Lantana. The females lay eggs on Passiflora or passion vine plants as their host plant. Another fun fact I learned is that zebra longwings can also feed on pollen unlike other butterflies who strictly sip on nectar. They have a specialized ability to dissolve pollen in their mouth parts. I observe them slowly flying in and our of my arbor and garden plants frollicking and playing with each other. You’ll enjoy a morning or afternoon sipping a coffee observing these graceful butterflies.
What a month of transformation in my Butterfly Garden……BUTTERFLIES, bees, dragonflies, flowers GALORE!
Giant Swallowtail on Red Penta 
Giant Swallowtail on Red Penta 
Monarch on Sapphire Showers 
Florida Bee on Porter weed 
Great Purple Hairstreak 
Gulf Fritillary on Mexican Sunflower
March was full of replanting, new plants and additional garden spaces for the Butterflies, Dragon flies, pollinators….. Watching the plants grow back has been transformational in my Butterfly garden, lots of rain brought beautiful opportunities for my plants. My seedlings grew and grew to beautiful plants. My Mexican Sunflowers bring such brightness and beauty along with butterflies, bees and more!!!
Here’s a few photos to see the changes
New growth from seeds 
Mexican Sunflowers 
Sulfur Butterfly caught on camera 
Seasside Goldenrod 
Mex Sunflower Plant 
Mex Sunflower
February was the time for butterfly garden winter clearing, weeding, pruning, cutting back my beautiful Jatrophas, Limey Prickly Ash, and more. I know how important this is but I also feel heartfelt sadness until I see new growth appearing then I know time is near for Spring to burst through with beautiful colors in my garden.
This year I expanded my fenceline which created more opportunity to expand my butterfly gardens and add more host, nectar, hummingbird plants……starting seeds of different plants to prepare.
My new arbor and greenhouse idea implemented with heavy wire and long metal stakes. A funny story behind my designing a greenhouse to grow milkweed for Monarch Butterflies. Over the last 4 years, Monarchs have been a great part of my purpose to start gardening….I would go lengths to buy milkweed year round so they would have milkweed to lay eggs, caterpillars to grow, flowers for nectar for feeding monarchs. You see I have been researching, observing, documenting, designing, thinking more and more. I would ponder how, why, what can I do to keep milkweed in my garden…because it takes time for a milkweed plant to regrow after being eaten to the stems by a very hungry caterpillar.
So, 2020 was time for a change I began growing my own milkweed from seeds….well thats another adventure worth laughing about….. I purchased seeds online Mexican Milkweed (asclepias curvassavica), White/Pink Swamp Milkweed (asclepias incarnata), giant milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) and more…. But lets step back my first milkweed seed experience brought me to take further steps some forward then back again …..so I sewed seeds, plants started to grow,,, not even 1-2 inches tall I noticed leaves were missing WHAT? well as I observed daily I saw caterpillars as I looked closer eggs….and then I saw the Monarch Butterfly flying over and landing on my new plants and yes laying eggs Well I learned lots and have grown from that first experiences of growing milkweed……………
Now, I have mesh covering for growing seeds and plants so they can grow to mature plants for Monarchs to enjoy Oh yes, those Monarchs are clever but they have not found a way to fly thru mesh! Fast forward to today… thats how I came to designing my first greenhouse, keeping it simple until time to go the next step.
An exciting month has begun……Jatrophas, Firebushes, limey ash tree are all showing fresh growth…..seeds have sprouted and plants are growing….beautiful colors are appearing along with blossoms, flowers, butterflies, bees, dragonflies, and so much more…Take a peek
New Butterfly Garden 
Main Butterfly Garden 
My Butterfly Fairy 
Main Butterfly Garden new plants added 
Replanting for Spring 
Herb Garden addition 
Pipevine growing over new arbor 
Added wire fencing for vines 
Honeysuckle planted 
Plants regrowth 
Tropical Milkweed Blooming 
Milkweed growing from seeds 
Plants in my greenhouse
This year has been an active Butterfly season, I have seen many multiple species of different butterflies this season enjoying my garden. I want to share some recent photos in this post.
Monarch 
Monarchs Mating 
Giant Swallowtail 
Giant Swallowtail 
Polydamas Swallowtail 
Polydamas Swallowtails Mating
Those are a few of my daily Butterfly visitors along with different species of Skippers and Sulfurs, White Peacocks and more!
This season has also brought additions to my garden, we built and added a new Butterfly House for Caterpillars to transition into a butterflies. So I currently have 3 butterfly houses within my main butterfly garden.
Also added new garden pathway with added fence line and gates into the garden. I had a flood which caused chaos for a month but we are back on track now with new plants, active caterpillars and butterflies.
I started growing plants from seeds which has been a learning experience but that will be a future post. Along with adding a greenhouse for the growing plants and expanded garden areas to include wide variety of host, nectar, shelter, attractor plants for different types of Butterflies.
CUTIE? 
It’s time! 
Yes, I’m ready! 
WOW….Beautiful Black Swallowtail Crystalis…… butterfly in next post
Spring was amazing in my Butterfly Garden
This is my second year researching, planning, documenting/photographing and planting my Butterfly Garden. I’ve been soo busy in the garden and taking photos that I haven’t been here. I hope its time to catch up this summer on garden happenings.
RESEARCHING my ideas for garden was intense and so much fun. I visited plant nurseries, searched the internet and books. My Butterfly class seems so basic but I’ve learned details about butterflies that are helpful.
PLANNING my garden takes time and experimenting with planting seeds or buying plants. I discovered a blend of both works well in my garden.
DOCUMENTING/ PHOTOGRAPHING is such a delight! Capturing images of Butterflies, Plants, Caterpillars, Crystalis and Garden itself. This brings me such joy and peace.
PLANTING my garden full of different host, nectar, attractor plants has its ups and downs by trial and error but ultimately decide which butterflies you are trying to attract. Pick a plant and experiment with different ones. A blend of many different types brings more life to your garden.
My second year of Butterfly Gardening has exploded with colors and different species of butterflies daily. From Monarchs to Swallowtails to Sulfurs and Skippers and White Peacocks and more! Its fun and joyful to watch more and more species visit!
Ohh… the amazing caterpillars and crystalis in the photos above are from my backyard butterfly garden. I ended up purchasing a butterfly tent and kept them inside on fennel, parsley and dill plants.
My next post will show off my Black Swallowtail Butterflies. They are simply beautiful and tranquil flyers!!!
Monarchs have such character and beauty. As I watch, I wonder about their ability to hang from the tiniest purple flower and sip nectar with their proboscis (or tongue) which extends into the flower and pulls out this delectable yellow sticky nectar.
I have become so filled with questions about these insects that I’ve decided to take a Butterfly Class. I will begin to share some information I have learned here on my blog. I’m not an expert yet but my passion is coming out!
I made a special trip to buy nectar plants to plant in my butterfly garden. As soon as I brought these long stemmed red pentas to my butterfly garden, the monarchs came, instantly landed and began sipping nectar.
Makes me wonder about their sensory abilities, I learned that their tarsi (or feet) give butterflies the ability to taste 200 times stronger sensation than humans.
And their tarsi have chemical receptors that allow the butterfly to feel the plant, leaf, or flower they land on before feeding or laying eggs!