Lately, I've noticed that I'm not the only one who loves it. It's the plant of choice for one specific caterpillar who seems to have an appetite only for my vine. At first, I carefully picked them off and relocated them to an wild area next to my property. I don't know if they found their way back overnight or if 100 eggs hatched at once, but there's an endless supply of caterpillars nibbling away on my vine every day. As my frustration mounted, I must admit that I wasn't as careful with a few of the caterpillars as I rid my precious vine of their presence. My vine has seen better days.
Here's a culprit caught in the act!
So, not knowing anything about this hungry bug, I did a little research. Oh dear! The culprit is actually a young Gulf Fritillary, or the Passion Butterfly.
Hmmmm! I've been trying to attract more butterflies, and a greater variety. Unknowingly, I've been successful...until I began ridding my garden of the very critter I'd hoped for!! I'm not feeling very smart.
So, tonight when I checked my vine and spotted two young cats, I decided to leave them where they sat.
You can find out more about the Gulf Fritillary butterfly here.
Hopefully they'll turn into butterflies sooner than later!
18 comments:
What a beautiful creature! Larry
Beautiful butterflies! It's too bad your vine has to be sacrificed though :( Don't feel dumb...I had a caterpillar problem last spring, and they drove me crazy. I didn't do anything to them, and it was definitely the year for butterflies, but man! They were always accidentally getting squished all over the driveway...bleah.
I've tried growing several different types of passion vine, Lady Margaret included. The only one that has proven robust enough to stand up against the cats is the incarnata. It gets eaten to the stem and then pops up another shoot all summer. Other people have told me that the incarnata is invasive for them:) I think Lady Margaret is so pretty but she didn't last but one summer for me.
Oh that is a pretty flower Kimberly...but that is a pretty butterfly too! I'd give in and end up sacrificing the plant too :D
Awesome! What a beautiful butterfly and very interesting caterpillar. I am always trying to acquire native plants that attract and host butterflies, moths and all sorts of pollinators. It is so fun to discover them in my garden and see that they actually work!
I suppose that is the downside of providing a food plant for caterpillars...they eat it! Such a pretty little butterfly though, and I'm sure your vine will recover. The blossoms are gorgeous!
I'm really torn! I don't want to sacrifice my passion vine. But I want the butterflies. It's never easy, is it?!?! UGH!!
Your passion flower is very pretty. I love the flower, but kind of afraid to plant a vine in my small garden. For now, I will enjoy yours from here :) I have to admit that I the catepillar sometimes scare me even the butterflies are the ones I am working very hard to attract to my garden! lol
I've (sort of) resigned myself to the fact that, if I want butterflies, I have to feed the caterpillars and put up with some not so lovely plants in the process. I wish I had Monarch cats on my milkweed, but I don't at the moment.
Whoops! Well hopefully your vine will be able to snap out of it once they get done munching on it. I wouldn't have known either.
Hi,
Here they say: A garden is not a garden without butterflies. So you are lucky.
Hi Kimberly, You are so lucky to have so many cats! All butterfly larve too if I'm not mistaken. The gulf fritillary is an awesome butterfly and one we have around here. I didn't even know the passion flower came in other colors. It is beautiful in red!
I read your other posts below. You did all mommas proud but especially yours on that awesome Mother's Day post.
We grow the Passion vine now just for the butterflies. I have four now with one blooming.If it gets eaten by the caterpillers it will come back or they have for me so far.
Kimberly,
hopefully the catterpillars just eat the leaves, and you will still have flowers! Nature has a way of evening things out, if we just let them be. I am looking forward to hordes of butterfly photos soon.
Lady Margaret....a beautiful passion flower. As for the caterpillars....bug/vine...vine/bug...what does one do?
Oh Kimberley what a dilemma. I think you need to feed your vine with lots of nitrogen early in the season so that it can produce loads of leaves so that it will be able to host your beautiful butterflies at the caterpillar stage and then feed it with potash after a few months to encourage it to flower.
Hi Kimberley,
Oh that sounds like something I would do....remove the caterpillars and then lament not having butterflies in my garden ;-) I am glad you found out what kind of butterflies they will turn out to be. Hopefully they transform quickly.
You could do what we've been doing since we planted passion flowers to drawn in more butterflies in our area too. Pick them off as eggs...if you see them or as small caterpillars, put them in a large jar with the opening covered with a coffee filter and rubber band for circulation. Just add a few new leaves daily. You get to "save" them from the parastic wasps and birds and watch the whole process, which can be very interesting! It's fun to release the butterflies once they emerge too.
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