Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 74, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Those gopher tortoises are big scaredy cats. Usually when they get that big they're not afraid of humans but this one was awful shy. He even growled at me! Right now is their mating season so they've been roaming a lot. Unfortunately, this means they end up in the road sometimes, and while many people are able to stop and help them cross the road, there are still many that get killed by cars each year. There are several burrows where I go to collect butterflies and caterpillars and I love when I get to see my tortoise friends as well.

I do grow the tropical milkweed. I wish I could grow some of the native stuff, but it's not commercially available and I've never recognized any in the wild. Our Monarchs overwinter this far down in Florida, and we have a great crop right now. In fact, the manager of the butterfly exhibit at the museum has been trading Monarchs to some of her contacts in order to acquire Buckeyes and Painted Ladies.

Dad and I went down to Selby Gardens for the bromeliad show and sale and there were lots of Monarchs flying around and all the caterpillars we saw on the plants were huge! Even Dad could spot them.