UF/IFAS
Okeechobee County Extension Service
458 Highway 98 North
Okeechobee, FL 34972-2578
Phone: (863) 763-6469
E- mail: dfculbert@ifas.ufl.edu
June 29, 2006
| Quick Links: Caterpillar Habitat Butterfly Groups Grand Opening Event References |
Feature Article - for release the week of July 9, 2006
Dan Culbert - Extension Horticulture Agent
Butterfly Basics part 2: Luscious leaves
Last week this column highlighted the kinds of flowers needed by Okeechobee area butterflies. This week our attention turns to the kinds of plants needed to feed “baby butterflies” – the food plants for caterpillars.
Butterfly Haven will open to the public on Saturday, July 22, 2006. Located at Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center north of Okeechobee, many volunteers have put in countless hours of work at this unique community garden. While few people will be able to install a project like this one – a half-acre free-range butterfly garden that is shaped like a Zebra Longwing - almost anyone can encourage year-round visits by planting some of their favorite larval food sources.
For a copy of the Opening Day Event poster click here to open an Adobe pdf file!
The Zebra Longwing is Florida's state butterfly. Photo: Dan Culbert, UF/IFAS |
Butterfly Haven's design, created by Don Farese of Lucida Design, was inspired by the Zebra Longwing. Photo courtesy Sue Arnold. |
The basics of wildlife habitat are the same: food, water, and shelter. What makes butterfly habitat more complicated is the way these insects develop. The pretty flowers produce sweet liquid nectar that is used by many adult butterflies as a source of moisture and energy. But baby butterflies – we know them as caterpillars - are different. Designed by nature to be eating machines, they consume many times their weight in foliage. If the right kinds of leaves are not present, the caterpillar can not grow, and there will be no butterflies.
 Larval
Harvester butterflies are carnivorous - the only
know predator caterpillar in North America! Photo:
Canadian Biodiversity Information Center. |
There is one curious exception to the plant-eating diets of caterpillars: Harvester Butterfly caterpillars are the only known predatory butterflies in North America. Larval Harvesters eat woolly aphids, scale insects or treehoppers that are found on certain trees. The trees that host this special food source include only one locally adapted plant – the Carolina or Pop Ash. So planting this tree to grow these sucking insects for caterpillar food may be essential to see Harvesters in our area of the state.
Florida Yard owners that wish to have colorful butterflies know that if they want more of these flying jewels, certain plants around their landscape will look ragged. And if the desire is to see certain kinds of butterflies, specific kinds of plants must be in the area for egg laying and caterpillar chewing.
Butterfly Groups have Similar Needs
Butterflies relatives are grouped on similar physical characteristics. Often these groups have similar larval plant food needs. This will make it easier for enthusiastic butterfly gardeners to plan for the kinds of creatures they wish to see in their Florida Yard.
Some caterpillars prefer leaves from certain trees and shrubs common in our area. Enthusiastic butterfly gardeners don’t need to add these to the local landscape. For example, larval Viceroys need Willow trees, while Emperor Caterpillars consume leaves of hackberry trees.
Swallowtails need different kinds of woody plants for their habitat. Palamedes Swallowtail eat any of the several Bay trees found in our wetland areas, Tiger Swallowtails consume the Bay leaves, but can get by with Tuliptrees, Black Cherry or Ash – which are not well adapted to local areas. The Giant Swallowtail will eat any of the citrus relatives such as the native Wild Lime or Hercules Club, but to the detriment of citrus growers, they can also eat foliage from Orange or Grapefruit Trees.
Swallowtail butterflies will use many kinds of flowers, but the caterpillars are more picky. This Giant Swallowtail probably grew up in nearby citrus groves. Photo: Dan Culbert, UF/IFAS |
Swallowtail caterpillars (above) also love plants in the carrot family like parsley, fennel and dill (right). Photo: Dan Culbert, UF/IFAS |
 |
Among the Brush-foot butterflies, some larvae have specific dietary needs, while others have broad food plant choices. American Lady caterpillars need sunflower relatives like Ironweed (Vernonia) or Rabbit Tobacco aka. Cudweed (Gnaphalium obtusifolium). Red Admirals need various nettles to feed on – and thank goodness that the locally found False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) is not the stinging kind. Ever wonder why the Painted Lady is so common? Part of it is that there are hundreds of larval host plants for their caterpillars, including many thistles, mallows, and various legumes.
Favored foods of many of the small Grass Skippers are lawn grasses, sedges, and native grasses. Others have very specific diet needs such as saw palmettos or cannas. Anther group - the Spread-wing Skippers - prefer to eat legumes including weedy beggar's ticks(Desmodium triflorum), clover found in pastures, or even the beans in our vegetable gardens.
A final group of local butterflies worth noting are the various Sulphurs and Whites. Among the three kinds of local sulphurs, legumes are their favored diet, so plants as the Cassias and joint vetches (Aeschynomene sp.) can be used to encourage these yellow beauties. The White butterflies, such as the Cabbage Butterfly, rarely need encouragement. As their name implies, they are fond of plants from the mustard family, including cultivated cabbage, wetland water cress, and the common weedy Shepard’s Purse.
Butterflies can be encouraged by making some changes in the way you care for your Florida Yard. These “flying flowers” can be more common if some host plants can be spared from mowing or herbicides. Adding critical plants to your Florida Yard can also be done, but remember the basics of growing plants still apply: don’t put plants where they are not adapted. After the Independence Day holiday, I’ll be posting on the Internet a chart listing local butterflies and their favored nectar and larval plants. Please let me know if you see any additions or corrections to this listing – we want it to work for our community.
The public grand opening of “Butterfly Haven” takes place Saturday, July 22, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission for adults, with no charge for children 12 and under, will include a snack and a beverage. In addition to a butterfly garden tour, visitors also will be able to see the other beautiful and exotic creatures (panthers, bobcats, gators and many others) found at Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Come enjoy guided tours of the hiking trail and self-guided tours of the nature trail, located at 14895 NW 30th Terrace, Okeechobee, FL 34972. For more information about the Center go to their website, www.arnoldswildlife.org or call 863-763-4630.
Click here for the Opening Day Poster!
I’ve placed more information on our Okeechobee web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu. If you need additional information on butterfly gardening, please email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu or call us at 863-763-6469. Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North in Okeechobee, and visit our Okeechobee County Master Gardeners from 1 to 5 PM on Tuesday afternoons.
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Larry
A. Arrington, Dean Last update: 07/21/2006
. This page is maintained
by Dan Culbert
|
UF/IFAS
Extension Bulletins
(EDIS menu pages): |
| Butterflies |
| Butterfly Gardening |
| Caterpillars |
| Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) |
Internet references:
Butterfly Gardens. In: Solutions for Your Life website, 2006. http://ics.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/lawn_and_garden/specialty_gardens/butterfly_gardens.html
Cooper, Linda and Byrum. Butterfly Gardening for Central Florida. Haines City: UF/IFAS Polk County Extension Service, February 2002. http://polkhort.ifas.ufl.edu/Featured_Articles/Butterfly%20Gardening%20for%20Central%20FL.pdf
Culbert,
Daniel F. Butterfly Gardening. Okeechobee:
UF/IFAS County Extension Service, April 27, 2003. http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu/News%20columns/Butterfly.Month.htm
Daniels, Jaret C. Butterfly Gardening Basics" In Gator Gardening for Kids website. Gainesville: UF/IFAS Department of Environmental Horticulture, 2006. http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/ggk/butterfly.htm
Edwards, Gayle & Brown, Stephen H. Butterfly Gardening With Florida Native Plants. Fort Myers: Lee County Extension Service, undated. http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/Butterfly%20Gardening%20W%20Native%20Plants1.pdf
Neal, Anita & Brodeur, Susan. Gardening for Butterflies. Lake Alfred: Proc. Fla. State Hort. Society, 118:298-301. 2005. http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/academics/faculty/burns/pdf/298-301.pdf
Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org (Version 06/30/2006)
Watkins, Theresa. Butterfly Gardening with Florida Yards & Neighborhoods. Orlando: Florida Cooperative Extension Service, 2006. http://cfyn.ifas.ufl.edu/butterfly.html