"Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden."
~Orson Scott Card

Art Shapiro on butterflies via Annie's: https://vimeo.com/134664426. For those of you who already have a butterfly garden or are interested in possibly creating one, Art's presentation hosted at Annie's Annuals & Perennials is a must-see.

All of the info in the video will pertain to our SoCal region too, as Annie's is located near Oakland, California. "Close enough for government work." as we used to say at the City.

Monarch Butterfly Rest Areas Coming to Texas Highways is an article highlighting what the Texas Department of Transportation along with The Native Plant Society of Texas has up their sleeves to help with Monarch butterfly migration through their state. What a great idea! Would love to see more of this type of cooperation between government and the populace along our own transportation corridors, instead of using so much non-native species. Another added benefit besides supporting native animal populations? California natives by nature are water misers!

  Monarch Butterfly Rest Areas Coming to Texas Highways

Update: As previously mentioned in the August 15th newsletter, the passion fruits on my passion vine have been ripening: they are drop dead dee-lishous! I cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp, and then eat all, except for the skin. Tastes like guava on steroids.

-Andrew Kliss

Passiflora edulis. Passion Vine, "Purple Possum"

-Andrew Kliss

  

These passion vine leaves are beginning to point towards fall around here, as they start to fade, turn yellow, and then fall.

-Google

The primary reason I chose to plant passion vine, is that it's the host plant for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly. "Purple Possum" was selected for the rich quality of fruit it bears. Nature provides us with many species of passion vines, and with these, we create a myriad of hybrids and varieties. Some (I believe all) produce stunning flowers, while their fruits are "Myeh." or "Blphf!". If choosing one for your own yard, a little googling will go a long way in helping you to choose what variety is good for your wants.

Beware of red-flowered species and hybrids, as they are reported to be toxic to Gulf Frit cats.

"Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly."

-Andre Gide

Finding a few more Monarch caterpillars with each passing week. That's good news, as it affirms the presence of butterflies in a neighborhood sparse with nectar bearing and host plants.

 The Gulf Fritillary

 Many times mistaken for a Monarch due to its similar attire, they are two distinct species with distinct host plant proclivities.

Whereas the Monarch butterfly hosts on milkweed species, the Gulf Fritillary hosts on various species of passion vine. We would not have any "frits" in California were it not for passion vines growing in our gardens.

Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae

The under-wings of Gulf Fritillaries sport large, metallic-luster silvery patches that photographs have a hard time giving justice to. This is one very outstanding notable difference between them and Monarchs.

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar

Gulf Fritillary Chrysalis

Blue Passion Flower Passiflora caerulea

There are a myriad of passion vine species, cultivars, and hybrids one can choose for a garden. A word of warning regarding some passion vines: from what I've read online on various sites and posts, red flowering varieties should be avoided as they are poisonous to frit cats. Whites, purples, violets, yellows -- anything but red should be planted. Also be careful to make sure that any hybrids you may be interested in have no red flowering parentage in their lineage.

The container garden originally was home to Passiflora loefgrenii, but was replaced by Passiflora edulis 'Possum Purple', as P. loefgrenii was not producing as many leaves as wished for in order to support a fair number of frit cats. I was enamored by its blooms, but alas, necessity above beauty. That's not to say P. edulis is the ugly duckling of the passion vine family: far from it! I find all of them to be equally beautiful. How could a parent say one child is more beautiful than another?

I picked 'Possum Purple' over the common P. edulis just to be different, plus from what I've read, it produces excellent passion fruits. Soon I'll be able to sip a tropical passion fruit drink from the front porch while watching butterflies flit about in the container garden. Yes, life is good!