Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Butterfly and Herb Festival, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Here I go again:

After I left the tent (which was soooo hot), I went over to the butterfly garden section of the botanical gardens. I saw many Black Swallowtails, and I think Mom and I saw a Red-Spotted Purple. We were both like, "Oooooh". There was a guy selling a plant called "soursop" as an alternative to the pawpaw for the Zebra Swallowtail. I know ZSTs might seem rare around here, and he had a point about their native pawpaws being destroyed to make way for the newest subdivision or shopping mall, but I do see many of them in the preserves. I'm going to get some pawpaws soon and boost the population for everyone!

Anyway, as I was walking around the butterfly garden, right smack dab in the middle was a gopher tortoise peeking out of his home! I love these guys, and I suppose he's like the "watchdog" for the butterflies.