Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 38, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Ahhh...I'm full of lunch and have had my fair share of butterfly action today. Kristen, my boss at MOSI is on vacation this week and was really relying on the volunteers to help out. Since I had a three-day weekend I figured I could go on Saturday and Sunday to check up on the caterpillars.

So when I got there most everything looked good - except the Long-Tailed Skippers had no food. They had been feeding them beans, but all we had left in the gardens were stalks. Luckily, I'm a smart girl. I grabbed one of the butterfly books we keep in the lab and looked up what other host plants they can use. I knew most cats that eat bean or pea plants usually will accept several kinds. I read through the list and looked at the pictures and one looked familiar. It was beggarweeds (genus Desmonium). I remembered a while back I had some blooming under my oak tree and I thought it was pretty so I looked it up.

MOSI has an area they literally call the "Back Woods". They have trails and so I wandered back there looking for this weed. I finally found some and clipped a whole bunch to take back. I was still unsure if I had the right plant or if the cats would even eat it. I put it in the tank and waited a few minutes while they explored and settled down. A few of them had to build their leaf shelter right away. But this guy started eating flower petals, buds, and the stem!