The Butterfly Blizzard of 2013

This is our Summer of Butterflies. Never before have we had so many winged wonders flitting around our garden. It's a Butterfly Blizzard.

From sunup to sunset, zebra longwings, Gulf fritillaries, skippers, monarchs, black swallowtails, sulphurs and even giant swallowtails are busy fluttering about. I don't know why we have such a bounty this year.

Black swallowtail 

Maybe it's because our landscape is more mature now, three years after our Extreme Yard Makeover. The flowering plants are bigger and more robust, which means they pack more sweet stuff (as in nectar) than when they were smaller. More food on the buffet = more visitors to the buffet.

Maybe it's because we have deliberately planted a variety of menu choices, to attract a variety of butterflies. And we've planted foods that attract not only the adult butterflies, but their caterpillars as well. Most butterflies will sip nectar from a variety of flowers, but will only lay eggs on a few species,  sometimes only one species. The only larval plant for the monarch plant is the milkweed. The only host for zebra longwing babies is passionvine. Black swallowtails need fennel, parsley, dill or carrot tops. 

Zebra longwing caterpillar

Gulf fritillary caterpillar

Maybe back-to-back warm winters have played a role. After the Great Freeze of January 2010, we saw only a handful of zebra longwings the following two summers. Last year we saw a few more. This summer they are the most abundant species we see. There are 8-12 in our backyard at literally any time of day. They enjoy sipping on the porterweed, pentas and the wild coffee, but it is firebush they absolutely, unabashedly, passionately adore.  They hover like lovely, living Christmas ornaments around our two firebush shrubs. Their presence has been so constant we have come to think of them as part of the landscape, like our bird bath or our "sit-a-spell" bench.

Zebra longwing on porterweed

And maybe my increasing interest in plants native to Florida has something to do with our summer of success. We estimate our overall landscape is at least 60% native now (more than 70% in the backyard) and most of what we have planted attracts pollinators. Among those are Walter's viburnum, marlberry, wild coffee, anise hyssop (the bees love that as fervently as the longwings love the firebush), mistflower, wild coffee, privet cassia, goldenrod, buttonsage, cutleaf coneflower, rosinweed and Tampa vervain.  Oh, and firebush. 

Gulf fritillary on Tampa vervain

These are plants that Florida butterflies have come to recognize and depend on over the eons; they have evolved together. Of course, butterflies use many non-native plants too, such as the pentas and parsley in my garden, but the natives seem to provide a critical support system. Plus, these plants are part of our heritage as Floridians, no matter where we were born or what sort of accent we have.

It's easy to attract butterflies to your yard and there are a wealth of online resources to help you get started. Here are a  few of my favorites:

Attracting Pollinators To Your Garden Using Native Plants (U.S. Forest Service publication with beautiful illustrations)

Pollinator-Friendly Plant Guides For Your EcoRegion (online guides produced by the Pollinator Partnership)

Essentials of Building a Successful Butterfly Garden (www.floridagardener.com) 

Lepcurious (Butterfly Blog from Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry)

What plants are your favorite butterfly magnets? 

Black swallowtail chrysalis