“The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”

-George Carlin

I need to reiterate:
most - if not all - of the butterfly, caterpillar, and chrysalid photos in this blog have been downloaded from web searches. I've received several comments lately about their high quality and the assumption that I took them.

In order to allay any confusion or misconceptions regarding photo authorship, this blog will begin to give credit either to the blog author or Google, which this site uses extensively. I don't have the amount of caterpillars, chrysalids, and butterflies at my disposal, nor the patience to chase down and try to produce quality butterfly photos. I have a cat; trying to corral him at times for either beneficial or seemingly ulterior motives is enough of a patience tester for me as it is.



Butterfly Farms in Vista, California, held an open house of their facilities June 14. They offer butterfly-specific plants for sale on top of regular landscape fare, and is home to the largest butterfly vivarium in California according to their Facebook page, .

Butterfly Farms has recently opened their doors. As such, it is in the process of growing, expanding, and maturing. The visit to the vivarium and butterfly plant nursery was a pleasant way to spend the later half of a Saturday morning amongst butterflies chrysalids, caterpillars, along with some of their favorite plants.

© Andrew Kliss

© Andrew Kliss

This netted building houses plants on sale specifically for butterflies.

© Andrew Kliss

Butterfly plants for sale.

 

© Andrew Kliss

Butterfly vivarium.

© Andrew Kliss

Once inside the vivarium, one is greeted by a landscape dedicated to supporting butterflies stocked with both host and nectar plants. The watermelon is used as an enticement to lure butterflies and makes for a good nectar substitute when low on flowers. Just about any fruit that contains sugars will work, even oranges. Cut up fruit in a dish and placed in the garden will keep butterflies coming to visit. Change periodically when fruit begins to dry out. Watch out for those pesky Argentine ants, as once they find it, they'll be all over it like flies on feces.

© Andrew Kliss

© Andrew Kliss

This is Micaela, the daughter of one of the owners with an Anise Swallowtail perched upon her forehead. She is the spokesperson, greeter, and unofficial mascot of Butterfly Farms.

© Andrew Kliss

Monarch feeding on lantana.

Male Monarch feeding on Tropical Milkweed. Milkweeds serve a twofold purpose: nectar and host plants. Two gender identifying characteristics are the small black dots on each lower wing with males, and the absence of the dots, plus thicker black veins on wings with females.

© Andrew Kliss

Various instars of Monarch caterpillars chomping away on Tropical Milkweed. Notice the yellowish orange oleander aphids infesting the plant also, which was touched upon in the June 6th blog post.

© Andrew Kliss

© Andrew Kliss

Anise Swallowtail sipping watermelon juice.

© Andrew Kliss

There were several Anise Swallowtail chrysalids on display in the vivarium that exhibited several color morphs, dependent on what color their surroundings are. Above is one in green phase when what it attached itself to was still green. Below is a brown chrysalid blending in with its surroundings. This particular sad looking plant was donated to the vivarium for showcasing the various color forms. Unfortunately, transplant shock got the better of it.

© Andrew Kliss

© Andrew Kliss

Cloudless Sulfur caterpillar feeding on cassia spp.

© Andrew Kliss

The converted clothes hampers above make for great rearing pens. I've been lax with the butterfly web site and have not updated the type of laundry hamper I now use. I really like the Whitmor collapsible laundry hamper for its convenient size and zippered lid.

Is it worth one's time to go out of your way to visit the vivarium? No, not right now at least. If one lives close to Butterfly Farms, the trip is worth the short drive. It is too new and not mature enough to warrant a special trip right now. Next year at this time, the vivarium should be established enough to make a trip worthwhile.

The nursery is worth coming to, as it stocks a varied and large selection of nectar and host plants, with an emphasis on milkweeds. It is a nonprofit; plant sale proceeds go to operations costs, hosting school field trips, and advancing butterfly research.

"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!

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.”
- Richard Bach

Now that butterfly season is ramping up, this post is longer than most, covering several different topics. 

Latest Container Garden News:
Found seven new Monarch cats this week. Looking for various swallowtail cat species on my fennel, dill, Queen Anne's lace, angelica, and common rue; all members of the carrot family, or Apiaceae, - except for common rue, which is a member of the citrus family - on which a few members of the swallowtail family host on. Haven't found any yet, but I did see an unidentified swallowtail cruising past the front of the house last week. Also spotted a Giant Swallowtail flitting about the neighbor's dwarf orange tree. Can only guess it was a female looking to oviposit some of her eggs.

The plants mentioned above make wonderful nectar sources on top of being hosts to several swallowtail species here in So Cal. I haven't seen any real nectar gathering on common rue, but that may be due to not seeing this type of activity because of timing: being at the right spot at the right time.

• Fennel, dill, and Queen Anne's lace host the Anise Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail.
• Queen Anne's lace also hosts the Giant Swallowtail and possibly the Black Swallowtail.
• Angelica hosts... I'm not sure yet, as I've only started growing it this year. Makes an excellent nectar plant. Will update.
• Rue hosts the Giant Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail.

Carrot cousins make for strong butterfly nectar magnets and are necessary host plants for swallowtails. Other members of the carrot family you would be familiar with are caraway, coriander, cumin, lovage, and parsley. The container garden is host to Angelica stricta "Purpurea", an exquisite beauty of a plant. Well worth looking into if one has the inclination to plant this biennial.

Angelica stricta "Purpurea" 

Many people plant only milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies, but swallowtails are beautiful guests to gardens too. A few representatives of the carrot family would go a long way in diversifying a butterfly garden, plus they are general nectar plants that Monarchs and others likewise feed on.

Speaking of milkweed:
'tis the season for oleander aphids to start making their appearance on your milkweed plants. These pesky little orange/yellow critters are more of a nuisance and eyesore than anything else, although, if one has severely distressed, sickened, or weak plants, they can succumb to large numbers of them. If you don't find any on your plants, consider yourself very lucky, as they are are pretty much endemic to most of the warmer sections of the U.S. and major portions of the world now.

Oleander aphids, Aphis nerii. The brownish aphids are carcasses of dead individuals parasitised by a tiny wasp.

It is an import that most likely originated in the Middle East where its namesake oleander is native of. It is very host specific, only feeding on a few garden plants here: oleander, milkweed, and hoya are pretty much it. Fear not, as they won't invade other plants one has in surrounding areas.

Tiny wasp parasitising an aphid by injecting a tiny egg in the aphid's body that will hatch to eat its host from the inside, out.

What's a person to do? Certainly not spraying for them, as that will kill any butterfly eggs or caterpillars that may be inhabiting your milkweed, and threaten any butterflies one wishes to attract. The best method is to practice mechanical and biological deterrents. If one has the inclination, one can squish the bastards little darlings between the thumb and forefinger. It's best to let nature take its course, allowing aphid predators to help put a dent on their populations.

The frequent and indiscriminate carpet bomb approach to pest management utilizing chemical sprays is an atrocity to nature. One effectively sterilizes an area, creating a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum. Pests return with a vengeance. When one has sterilized an area, one has also dispatched predators, but predators have a much slower rate of reproduction which allows pest populations to explode. So what does one do? ONE SPRAYS AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN...

 This ugly creature is the nymph of a cute ladybug. Ladybugs and their nymphs feast on aphids.

 Adult ladybug, or ladybird beetle as some call it, contentedly munching away on a soft bodied aphid.

 GACK! Ants!

In our warm weather area, we are cursed with another unwanted introduction, the Argentine ant. This little bugger invades gardens and homes and is quite pernicious. They actually round up and cultivate aphids for the honeydew they exude from their bodies, milking them as we do cows. Fierce protectors, they are able to fend off most aphid predator attacks. Bad juju. In order to allow aphid predators to do their thing, one must first eliminate Argentine ants from the garden - or at least on one's plants.

In summary, eliminate or severely curtail the use of pesticides, allowing a natural balance to rule your yard. I do believe in the localized and restricted use of pesticides when all other options have expired, but then allow nature to once again take over.

Practice IPM.

If you have an ant problem, target them and not the whole yard. There are baits one can place in the garden and house that ants will collect and take back to their colonies which in many instances kills off the colony, or at least severely limits their populations and destructive capabilities.

Milkweed in the container garden is beginning to attract oleander aphids. I do see ladybugs and I've done my share of squishing, and hopefully, predatory wasps have spied them too. Eventually, I'll throw in the towel, stare at the myriad maddening mass of orange/yellow aphid bodies, safe in the knowledge that my Monarch cats are well, my environment is healthy, and biodiversity rules this little corner of God's green earth.

Other News:
Two relatively close So Cal butterfly exhibits that are active at the moment are the ENC Native Butterfly House in Newport Beach, and the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Butterfly Pavilion, located in Claremont, California. The butterfly vivarium at Butterfly Farms in Vista is fully now open too.

"The butterfly's attractiveness derives not only from colors and symmetry:  deeper motives contribute to it.  We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign."

-Primo Levi

Periodically, I'll be showcasing some of the more common butterflies typically found in Southern California gardens. In no apparent order, we'll start off with one of the most written about butterflies species in the Americas, if not the world:

 Shown here is a male Monarch.  Males sport black dots on either side of their lower wings close to the abdomen, and have narrow black wing veins. Females lack the dots, while their wing veins are thicker than the males.

Monarch Butterfly Danaus Plexippus

Monarch Caterpillar

Monarch Chrysalis

The Monarch Butterfly of North America is an iconic butterfly specie that in the last decade or so has seen an abrupt decline in population, especially in the Midwest and Eastern strains.

Several factors are involved in what are considered severe population crashes. One is the eradication of much of the native milkweed plants that Monarch caterpillars exclusively dine on in Midwest farms and ranches. That is why it is so important to plant milkweed in private gardens, community parks, and anywhere anyone is willing to tend some.

The bulldozing of wild, open spaces for building is another.

Thirdly, the overwintering sites in Central Mexico for the Midwest and Eastern strains have been systematically destroyed through logging, poaching, and land clearing for agriculture. The western strain found in California and the Northwest, overwinters along the Southern California coast, are faring better, but have also been impacted due to host plant and habitat loss.

 

 Monarch Butterfly fall overwintering routes. Reverse directions in spring and summer.

Monarchs travel many miles from southern overwintering sites back home up north, and back down again. Along the way, they need milkweed plants to lay their eggs upon to produce more progeny; no milkweed, no progeny, no progeny, extinct creature. Once they get down to their overwintering grounds and the areas are seriously decimated or even extinct, there is no safe place for them to ride out the winter's cold, and subsequently die or are severely reduced in numbers.

Here is more on the Monarch Butterfly

Tropical, or Mexican Milkweed Asclepias curassavica

There are quite a few native North American milkweed species and several exotic non native ones that monarchs host on. One of the most common for gardeners is Tropical, or Mexican Milkweed. Prolific and easy to grow, this handsome plant makes a fine addition to any garden. It can be found in almost any local nursery center nowadays.

Many of the North American natives make good garden plants also. The species endemic the the western half of the United States tend to be more xeric (growing in dry places), so care must be taken to not over water them in the average garden. Many of these are well suited to growing in large pots where watering regimes can be better monitored. To list all of the different milkweed plant species here would be daunting, so an online search for milkweed would be better served.

Here is a list of the milkweed species currently growing in the container garden:

Asclepias curassavica, a Mexican and Central American native. Average watering.

Asclepias eriocarpa, native to California. Xeric.

Asclepias fascicularis, a California native. Xeric; can take average watering also.

Asclepias incarnata "Cinderella", also known as Swamp Milkweed, is an Eastern U.S. native. Found in swampy areas, does well in moist garden environments.

Asclepias physocarpa (Gomphocarpus physocarpus), a South African native. Average watering.

Asclepias speciosa, native to parts of California. Xeric, but will tolerate garden watering routines.

Asclepias speciosa "Davis"  is a lower elevation cultivar. I'm curious to see which one will do better at close to sea level.

All of these do well in containers, but A. eriocarpa may prove to be a bit of a challenge due to its long taproot. I'll keep you posted.

“Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.”

- Candace Bushnell

(Just a gentle, persuasive reminder... please?)

 MONARCH BUTTERFLY FACTS:

• Eggs: 3 - 8 days incubation.
• Caterpillars: 9 - 16 days as cats. (Except for the California Dog Face butterfly. HA! That's silly.)
• Caterpillars go through 5 instar stages.
• Chrysalises: 8 - 15 days as chrysalises.
• Adults: Live for about 2 - 6 weeks during active season. Overwintering adults live longer.

Different butterfly species have different life cycle times.


All three Monarch cats are gone; hopefully crawled off to chrysalissize (made up word. verb: to make, create, or turn into a chrysalis.)

I finally spotted my first Monarch butterflies of the season today. Must be a swarm of them migrating back north passing through my neighborhood. These are a few of them I captured with my camera phone. It's amazing what good photos these little contraptions produce.

 

Other species observed:

California Dog Face Butterfly, Zerene eurydice

I also spotted these two unidentified butterflies. I'll let you know what they are when I get a positive I.D. on them.

 

These two I find particularly attractive and beautiful. Instinct tells me they are migrating back to Redmond, Washington.

One particularly gaudy looking specimen.

A dear blog follower from Laguna Beach, California snapped this photo of an elusive butterfly flitting about the Irvine Bowl/ Laguna Theater village area. A delicate, petite, and lovely creature! If anyone can identify it, please share that info with the rest of us. Its gossamer wings are quite fetching:

Grace and elegance.

An interesting observation: all of them seem to be females. The absence of males is baffling to me. My guess is they could be congregating in certain sections of Laguna Beach, North Hollywood, and areas in and around San Francisco.

Since we are on the subject of Monarch butterflies, here is a milkweed that produces drop dead flowers, and can take average to moist garden soil:

Butterfly Encounters was an excellent source for various milkweed seed species. Unfortunately, the owner is shutting down his site in order to focus more attention to his family, which is a very good thing.

If interested in purchasing Asclepias incarnata "Cinderella" milkweed plants, check out these online sources: Cinderella milkweed. Makes for good cut flowers. There are several other varieties of Asclepias incarnata, or Swamp Milkweed available also. "Ice Ballet" is a very popular white variety. All varieties of Swamp Milkweed are good candidates for Monarch butterfly host plants with their abundant leaf output supporting caterpillars, and its profusion of attractive to both people and butterfly blooms.

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."

-R. Buckminster Fuller

YAY!!!

I found my first Monarch butterfly caterpillars on the milkweed growing in the container garden! Counted three Monday morning as I was watering the plants. Haven't seen many butterflies, but they are apparently making the rounds, as the three cats can attest to. Man, those little buggers grow fast!

Other News: 

•  Submitted the container butterfly garden site to the Monarch Joint Venture Program. They have a Map of Success Stories featuring sites submitted throughout the U.S.

• Registered the garden with the Monarch Watch Waystation Program. Those of you who are familiar with the Alta Laguna Park Butterfly Garden may remember it was registered with them and received a green and white waystation sign. I should be receiving my sign soon.

  

Update: One cat got lost, one slinked away to turn into a chrysalis methinks, and the third is about half grown and growing bigger every day.

"I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow.  He put his net on a bench where a boy sat reading a book.  It's a misfortune that it is usually the other way round."

-Karl Kraus

Starting to see several butterfly species passing through the container garden here. Saw several Gulf Fritillaries (many mistaken this species as a Monarch butterfly), with one visiting my Garlic Passion Fruit vine. Haven't noticed any cats on it, so it was either a male or non-fertile female. This particular passion fruit vine will be replaced with a more vigorous grower, Possum Purple. I hope to also get some delicious passion fruits from it! Alas, the Garlic Passion Fruit is not putting out enough leaves to feed a decent amount of GF cats, therefor the switch. I love its flowers, so I'll be putting it in its own pot and relegate it to the front porch where it will be allowed to cascade over the side.

Back in the  January 31st blog entry, there was a post written about Butterfly Farms of Vista, California being the new home of The Monarch Program. Well, things have changed a little bit since then. The center is located fifteen minutes away from where I live.

The Monarch Program has decided to pull out of Butterfly Farms and relocate somewhere else. There will still be a HUGE vivarium built, school field trips held, butterfly specific plants sold, and tours offered to the general public at Butterfly Farms.

I went back there fairly recently to check it out and get an update on their digs and to buy some milkweed for the Butterfly Container Garden. They want $10 for 1 gallon milkweed plants which is waaay too steep a price in my opinion, but it is a nonprofit, so the added cost is going to a good cause and not necessarily lining someone's pocket. They are also offering plants in 4 inch containers, but unfortunately I didn't get a price quote.

© Butterfly Farms

 Plant propagation greenhouse

It's going to be a very vibrant and aggressive center of butterfly related activity. Unfortunately, with The Monarch Program pulling out, the timeline for opening up the vivarium, hosting school field trips, and access to the general public has been set back by several months.

© Butterfly Farms

This vivarium will be the largest free flight butterfly house in Southern California once completed.

If they accomplish all they intend on doing, this endeavor will be a hub of west coast butterfly activity and influence. They are selling plants now, but the selection, size, and quantities are still a bit low. That should all change in May when plant stock should be up to snuff.

They also have a Butterfly Farms Facebook presence.