New butterfly nut

Hi everybody,
Just found Daves garden, and thought I would say hi.
I live close to Savannah GA, and have discovered that this is a great place for butterflies. I have lots of different Swallowtails, Gulf frits and Zebra Longwings, plenty of Skippers and an assortment of other smaller guys.

This year wasn't planned but they came anyway. Next year I'm getting serious about host plants. Is it possible to have more passionvine than what the Gulfs and Zebras can eat?
I hatched 7 Black Swallowtails inside since I didn't have enough parsley growing outside. So lots more parsley and fennel coming for them.
I was given 30 plus volunteers of Tropical Milkweed two days before the first frost so I'm going to try to keep them alive under growlights inside.

I'm desperatly trying to find some usable pipevine, no luck so far. The only kind I found at a nursery here turned out to be a grandiflora. Anybody have seeds for a native kind?
I have some different flower seeds I could send as a trade.

I have 2 albums with butterflies from my garden at webshots if anybody likes to have a look
http://community.webshots.com/user/blazingstar100

The photo is the first Black Swallowtail that I hatched

I hope to learn a lot from all of you.

HI, Paintedlady,
Glad you joined us. I think you'll find this place very friendly and full of information. I'm jealous already though. I just got introduced to zebra longwings a couple of months ago. I don't understand why they aren't here. If they survive where you are, we should have them here. I brought two cats back from Arlene's in Sept. I did see one longwing several weeks later. I want more, they are so beautiful. I've got some passion vines in pots, but got to get them more established. They grow wild on my property in AL, but I've not seen longwings there.

Welcome Paintedlady! I too enjoy butterflies and other insects (in fact, it's my profession as well as my avocation), and have included a lot of plants (both nectar and larval host plant resources) with them in mind. Just yesterday I visited a native plant nursery in San Diego, as I have decided to set aside one portion of my yard for this purpose in an effort to attract insects and save on water use.

My journal includes a list of butterflies observed in my backyard thus far if you want to check that out. It's not huge, but it's growing. I did a survey in Bautista Canyon about 5 miles from my place one week in May two years ago, and identified 52 species!

If you ever have any butterfly questions I'd be happy to help out where possible. You are going to have fun here at Dave's!

I will have to check and see how many I get to survive, but I started some native pipevines this summer. I traded a few and need to wait till spring to see how many make it.I layered them from the main vine, so should bloom faster, but the cats don't wait for them to flower, lol, they stripped one. You will also have to remind me again in spring, lol. These have smallish flowers, sort of greenish yellow. I can't find my Smokey Mtn Wildflower book anywhere or I would know their name.(I think it's aristolochia durio, but not positive)

Thanks for the offer Calalily. I made a note in my book, or I wouldn't remember who said what either. I only had two Pipevine Swallowtails here this summer. One was a female looking for a place to lay eggs. I'm hoping that next summer they won't have to go elsewhere.

Welcome to Dave's! Wonderful to have you!

Hello and welcome! That's a great photo of the pipevine swallowtail. Looks like I need to get some pipevine!

When I figure out how to work the scanner, I will scan in some of my butterfly photos to share with you all. I love these flying flowers! The Monarchs have been here in Orlando lately. I saw 5 of them and 1 lonely Cloudless Sulphur yesterday. One obviously was migrating south--his wings were pretty tattered and worn. He was very friendly and photogenic! A few weeks ago, my garden was full of longwings, fritillaries, and sulphurs. they must have gone south or out towards the coasts where it's a little warmer. The Carolina Sphynx have also been around as I have two caterpillars munching on my tomato plants. I brought the bigger of the two in to raise and hatch. They are so neat to watch--they move like hummingbirds! Speaking of which, I need to get him some more food...

Welcome to DG World! Thats a great picture. I can't get to your web site. Thanks for sharing!

This message was edited Thursday, Nov 28th 9:21 PM

Vredfish, I'm glad you told me about my webshots page, I didn't know there was a problem. I still have my albums there but can only get to the edit page. I'm being told the public page dont exict or has moved. I'm have written webshots. I will post again when the problem is solved.