Bountiful Supply of Caterpillars

This morning's posting is not specifically about the City containers this time.  I wanted to share the fun I have had drawing caterpillars to my yard.  It wasn't by design actually.  My friends, Chris and Chuck Steward, who own a wholesale nursery, shared a pot of parsley with me that happened to have a "couple" caterpillar eggs on it....caterpillars that would eventually become swallowtail butterflies -- the gods willing and hungry birds don't find them first.  The caterpillars kept on multiplying and so I begged more parsley plants.  Then one day it looked like something out of a Hitchcock movie -- there were over 60 caterpillars (as many as I could count anyway) munching away on these plants.  I loved everyone of them and hoped to see 60 fluttering friends one day.  Check out this out.

And this is just one of the many pots they used.  When there was nothing left but tiny stems, I watched the few remaining guys chewing on the stubs.  Mother Nature is amazing!  Not sure where they all went but I am keeping an eye on six chrysalis (where the pupae develop into butterflies) and hoping I won't miss the "big event".  Surely, I'll be rewarded for all my efforts with at least one!!

I'm telling you all this to encourage you to plant more butterfly-attracting plants.  The beloved monarch butterfly unfortunately only eats the butterfly plant (asclepias) which is often hard to find and most certainly nearly impossible to transplant, but worth the effort to get it in your garden.  Good ole fashioned zinnias are major attractors - and talk about cheap.  Throw a handful of seeds out and you have a field of flowers.  Pentas, lantanas, yarrow, coresopsis, echinacea (coneflower) - are just a few of the easy to find plants you can put in your garden or in a pot for easy viewing on your patio.

I had the wonderful pleasure of watching, up close and very personal, literally eye-to-eye, a Gulf Fritillary land on the gomphrena "Fireworks" that is in a pot by the Courthouse.  While there are many pentas in the pots not many butterflies have visited those.    I can only assume the environment is not good for them -- too much traffic.

So when you plan for next summer's garden or pots, see which plants will not only please your eye but will also please the eye of the butterfly.