I had bought 2 small pawpaws in the Spring, but when I transplanted them up into bigger pots, one died. Well the other was sitting under a bush and I forgot about it. When I found it, it had a bunch of leaves on it and was getting bigger! So I decided to transplant it into the ground in the bush area. With the shade from the other larger bushes, I figured it would do well. Not so. It dropped all it's leaves and I don't know if it is dying. I have heard that they don't like to have their roots disturbed. So transplanting it again probably was not a good idea. :-( I'll leave it in hopes that it didn't die and will grow some strong roots and new leaves. (Sheesh) I may have to go back to the nursery again and see if I can get another one (if they have one). Some plants are just too fragile. I do have a Sweet Bay (from Deborah, too) that I transplanted and it is doing very well! Maybe I won't even worry about another Pawpaw. (I thought it was cool to have one though! lol)
Happy Birthday Deb!
Thank you everyone for helping me out with the TST's I.D. and its host plants identification. What does pawpaw a host of? I've been wanting one for the longest, and trying to transplant those is a challenge because mail order catalog sent me several and none has made it thus far.
Debnes, Becky, Lucy, sheila. What is your fav. butterflies book referrence? I'd like to collect some for my own library and winter reading.
I appreciate your generosity for sharing.
I've a few cherries and willows as well as Ash. Speaking of climate differences, Cat. Cherries has been doing fine here in my zone, but my Mountain Ash looking kind of iffy for the summer heat seem to affect its growth and establishment.
I do have seedlings/saplings of sweet and blackgums for those that need some (Moths' host plant), dmail me for Fall planting or spring planting whichever works out best for your climate.
Kim
Kim, the main book I use is Florida Butterfly Gardening, by Marc & Maria Minno. It has BFs that I will likely see. It describes each BF, and shows pictures of the stages of development. Also, some of their host and nectar sources.
Other than that, I just search here, and on the web. : )
~Lucy
Kim - In the sticky thread there is a thread for good books, though I don't know if everyone has listed theirs on the thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/744904/
And agree with Lucy - One of my favs is the Minno book. That is the only book I paid full price for because it was new when it came out and not available on Amazon.com yet.
Also I would recommend borrowing them from your local library first to see which ones you like the best before ever making a purchase. That's what I did to get what I was looking for. :-)
This message was edited Dec 5, 2007 12:18 PM
Thanks Becky, I'll check out my local library soon.
Perhaps there are something out there geographically 'native' to our zone. :-)
Kim
I'm going to add a book to that thread Becky... Check it again in a little bit Kim...
debnes
Ditto.
As the official "Mommy" of Zebra Swallowtails here in Tampa, I have to ask what kind of pawpaws are you guys trying to grow? If they're the small, shrubby kind they like full sun. If they're the tree kind they don't grow this far south. I still have six seedlings and three plants growing across the street. The seedlings are asimina reticulata and the plants are asimina parviflora. This time of year most of the pawpaws in the wild have lost their leaves and some have already flowered (but that usually doesn't happen until February).
Melanie (who is trying to become a pawpaw expert)
Tehehehehe, Melanie, good job at that. I've several reputable nurseries locally to check in the type that'd be hardy here. I understood it's native to our region. So I'm waiting for one of those good nursery visit day. :-) Thanks for the info.
Kim
Happy Birthday all over again, Deb. Ahem, excuse me while I ask Melanie something> LOL
Hey there, Melanie,
I have Asimina triloba. I know absolutely nothing about it. I planted two seedlings in a low spot under the drip line of a tall pine tree. What can you tell me about this paw paw as a host plant?
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/37/
Thanks,
Deborah
LOL...... I have the trilobata Deb! They have a deep taproot. I dug a 4-6' hole to make sure it wouldn't hit a rock, then I backfilled and planted it. It's over 2' tall now ans I have it under a tree in back on the south side. Now as a host plant I surely can't tell you........yet. LOL But hey! One can hope and dream though.
Debnes, the baby does look very healthy! Good job!
Kim
Thx Kim~
I think it's about 2 years old now. It was a short woody stem when I planted it end of March 07. At first it grew some huge leaves from the woody stem, and then this slender one with much smaller leaves came up right beside it. Maybe it had gone through some sort of shock before it got here, but after settling it seems much happier.
debnes
Well, I can't grow the asimina triloba down here because it's way too hot (they're good through zone 8), but my grandparents have a couple in their yard in West Virginia. Grandpa liked to eat the fruits. When I was up there last July I didn't see any caterpillars, but I wasn't as good as spotting them back then. Grandma said they had a late frost that seemed to slow the tree, too. They have several full grown trees by the way. For most of their range (pretty much from Georgia to Canada), asimina triloba is the only host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail. The shrubby asiminas are endemic to Florida (and I think parts of Southern Georgia). I'll have to ask grandma if she's seen any black and white butterflies or if she's noticed caterpillars eating her trees.
The butterflies will lay little green eggs almost exclusively on the new growth of the plant. You can pretty much check only the light green baby leaves to find eggs or little caterpillars. Once they get bigger they'll wander around looking for food and you can find them on the rest of the plant.
Ok, I doctored one of my pictures to demonstrate. The red circle is an almost full grown caterpillar, and the yellow circles are new growth where it is likely you would find eggs or tiny caterpillars.
That's neat! Mellie, what is the white stuff on the ground? Beach sand?
Oh, I had to giggle at that. That's just what Florida looks like. We're one giant sandbox! That picture was taken in the Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve which is about ten miles inland. But even my yard looks like that except where we've improved the soil.
Another good reason to grow natives - what else could grow in the full Florida sun in that kind of soil?
Gotcha! I'm learning, lol.
Kim
Deb, my leaves fell off my pawpaw early. I'm hoping it's still alive.
Thanks, Melanie for the pictures. Crossing my fingers that my pawpaw lives to host those black and white pretties.
Should be alright Deb, That's what mine did.. Once it is acclimated it will be fine.
One of mine already lost its leaves and I'm way far South of you. A lot of the ones in the wild here are completely bare. I think yours will be fine! You should see what some of them look like after being eaten by a bunch of caterpillars. Just give it time and new growth will come peeking out of the middle.
I was given two Paw Paws by a friend, a male and a female, and i planted then at the Fielder house garden, I am hoping for some beautiful Zebra swallowtails next year, at least I will have what they need, we shall see.
Josephine.
I sure hope so! The only places I see the Zebra ST are in the preserves where the pawpaws grow. Since they like the dry, flat land they tend to get paved over here in FL. Them and the gopher tortoises (who I understand will eat pawpaws). The caterpillars for the ZST are easy to raise and super cute; I hope more of us get the chance to raise them next year!
Melanie
Me too mel!
Josephine~
We need to get some pawpaw for Paige and Sheila. I know we're spread out over the 4 corners of the county, so one of us should get the zst if they do come this way from any direction, lol :o)
HI,,, Ya'll bring up memories of a song we sang when I was growing up in Florida. About picking up paw paws, putting them in basket. .. Here is a zebra s. I took in Zolfo Springs, FL over Thanksgiving.
Elaine
Gorgeous photo Elaine! I saw a Zebra Longwing in my yard a couple of weeks ago.
I am kind of wondering ... my Golden Dewdrop bushes and my Purple Porterweed are looking rather worn. Do both of them die back or drop their leaves in winter? I can't remember my Porterweed doing that. But I think the Dewdrop did. Maybe I need to fertilize them? Though it's a little late to do so now. :-/
Elaine...lovely Zebra Longwing!!! Had one in my yard last week. Sure wish they'd frequent my yard more often...but they are far and few between. Some of our parks have them by the dozens though.
Becky...I periodically clip the branch tips to get rid of the spent blooms and dewdrops - your duranta should sprout new growth and bloom again. When they get too big I do some major pruning :o)
Am not sure if ya'll get hard winters - out here they stay green all year long and pretty much bloom all year long too. If it does freeze, the leaves will drop and sometimes the bush will freeze...but they should come back in the Spring...well at least mine do.
~ Cat
9b!!! Wow, I'm green with zone envy. Where subtropical climate is heaven for long blooming plants and late season b.f.!!!
Duranta needs to be overwinter here. To my delight though, I've successful rooted up broken branches of these delightful plants this Fall. b.f. I can't wait to see these plant back outdoor in the spring and the butterflies will be hoovering over its blossoms. :-)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/161223/
I know this is an old thread but I was researching Thoas photos and have noticed that Thoas have four yellow marginal spots on the trailing edge of the forewing and also seem to have extra yellow spot on top of the forewing band.
http://www.neotropicalbutterflies.com/Site%20Revision/Pages/Swallowtail%20pages/Heraclides_thoas.html
Am still a bit confused as I've seen what I figured were GSTs with four yellow marginal spots on the trailing edge of the forewing but they don't have the extra yellow spot on above the forewing band.
Some of the photos from out here and on the internet where people are calling the butterfly a Thoas doesn't have the extra yellow spot on the forewing band either. ???
~ Cat
edited to correct link :o) Thanks Sheila :o)
This message was edited Sep 29, 2009 9:54 AM
Not able to pick up your link cat.
Got it here...
http://www.neotropicalbutterflies.com/Site%20Revision/Pages/Swallowtail%20pages/Heraclides_thoas.html
This message was edited Sep 28, 2009 1:49 PM
Very interesting. Will look very hard when I go down to Florida with great expectations...
Elaine