"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view."

-H. Fred Dale  

The container garden is really beginning to show its colors (pun).

This photo taken towards the front of the house, the containers are beginning to fill in nicely.

I'm not too pleased with the way the passion vine, Passiflora loefgrenii "Iporanga" is growing in the yard. As it climbs, the lower leaves wither and die, leaving a skeleton of vine branches and less food for expectant Gulf Fritillary caterpillars down the road.

It will most likely be replaced with either Passiflora edulis or possibly Passiflora caerulea, both very full and dependable Gulf Fritillary host plants. How unfortunate, as the "Iporanga" sports such unique and colorful blooms. If anyone wants it, it's theirs for the asking.

Hot pink flowers of Centrahthus ruber (Jupiter's Beard, Red Valerian).

Tried Centranthus when I took care of the Alta Laguna Park Butterfly Garden, but the deer nipped off the flower buds before I could assess its usefulness as a nectar plant. Supposedly a good butterfly plant, I'll be watching this one as the season progresses. Self sows readily without being invasive, easy to grow, and quite drought tolerant once established. Comes in various shades of pink, red, and white.

 In the process...

Some of the containers shown above are in place while others are waiting for their new spots in the container garden; others still waiting to be planted and spotted. The yellow flowering plant under the window is dill for attracting various swallowtail species as a host plant for their larvae; and added bonus is the large yellow flower umbels that make for good nectar sources. Great as a fresh culinary herb in the garden too!

 There doesn't seem to be any butterflies to be found in the immediate San Marcos area it seems, at least in my neighborhood. Others in the San Marcos/Escondido vicinity see butterflies and some even have Monarch cats on their milkweed plants already. The only thing that has fluttered by recently is a Cabbage White. I did find some Cabbage White caterpillars in the geraniums growing on the porch, but those are unwanted, so I dispatched them. Little buggers eat the flower buds of geraniums and make lace doilies out of cabbage and kale leaves. BLECH!

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Took a jaunt out to one of many small nursery growers tucked amongst the little valleys and hillsides in and around Fallbrook and Rainbow, California.

My goal was to find a decent, reliable, and inexpensive source of Asclepias (milkweed) for the container garden. My efforts were rewarded in the combination wholesale/retail grower, RZ Nursery. Owned and operated by an affable gentleman named Rogelio, the search was rewarded by finding several Asclepias species offerings at RZ.

 RZ Nursery, Rainbow, California

I wanted to photograph Rogelio in his nursery, but he is a shy and retiring man when it comes to picture taking, but not in conversation. We started out discussing butterfly plants, which evolved into the ethics of good and gracious business practices, which in turn expanded into the proper ways to raise children, that ultimately turned to government and how corrupted both sides of the aisle are. What a fun and many branched discussion!

Rogelio grows an eclectic mix of common and not so common plant varieties in order to fill in those niches not covered by larger growers. I was so pleased to find a decent selection of milkweed plants that most nurseries don't grow, unless they specialize in milkweed production - and he's local to boot.

His stock is healthy and well grown, much of it actually overgrown for their containers, as he apparently doesn't have that big of a turnaround, except for his milkweed plants, as they are in demand by local nursery centers such as Green Thumb. Here is what I found there:

Asclepias curassavica

Asclepias curassavica "Wildfire"

Asclepias fascicularis

Asclepias tuberosa

If one is out roaming around in the San Diego North County/Riverside County areas and are looking for a good source of various milkweed species, Rogelio's RZ Nursery is the place. He only gives over-the-phone price quotes and availabilities to the trade, so one must go in and inquire. 1 gal. Ascleipias are $5, and 15 gal. Asclepias are $15. He only has A. fascicularis in 1 gal.

UPDATE: The container butterfly garden is going full bore! I'll be sharing some pics soon. 

 "Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes."

-Author Unknown

Went on a little photo safari to the San Diego Botanic Garden (formerly known as Quail Gardens) in Encinitas, California on the 1st.

It's a beautiful little jewel of a well maintained garden that is chock full of plants collected from many lands around the globe. Being blessed with the fantastic weather we enjoy here in SoCal - especially along the coastal strip - the variety is enormous. In one little section of the grounds, personnel installed a small butterfly and bird garden next to the children's garden section.

As far as a butterfly garden is concerned, it is very nondescript; more of a garden suited for young children whose parents would like their progeny to wander around a bit and possibly learn some gardening, bird, and butterfly lore.

It contains a small vivarium that houses several potted milkweed plants for the benefit of showcasing Monarch butterfly larvae and adults. The vivarium was devoid of any insects while visiting, the poor milkweed plants in sore need of some TLC. I'm sure when the weather gets warmer, the garden will refresh the milkweed and place Monarch cats on them for viewing. As a dedicated butterfly garden destination: fuggetaboutit, but as a botanical oasis, Quail Gardens is a gem of a place to visit. Bring a picnic lunch!

As for butterfly sightings, I noticed only one butterfly the whole time I was there, but it was my first swallowtail sighting of this season. It flitted by very fast, but I believe it was an Anise Swallowtail.

Vivarium, and actually most of the butterfly and bird garden.

I was in Laguna Beach visiting friends Wednesday, and had a chance to stop by the Alta Laguna Park Butterfly Garden. It hasn't been tended to, and since the last time I was able to work on it before my shoulder injury, it has steadily and rapidly gone down hill.

BUT, I was rather surprised at how well it has withstood the test of time. My biggest anticipation was seeing how many - if any - milkweed plants survived. Lo and behold, there are vestiges of them sprouting up through that tough, nutrient poor, poor excuse of a soil. As the days get longer, sunnier, and the ground warms up, there is hope that more will pop through that crap of supposed dirt. With a little bit of attention they could be coaxed into surviving, and even thriving.


Remember:

1. The Butterfly Festival in El Cajon is on Saturday the 5th.

2. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is hosting their annual Butterfly Jungle exhibit April 5 - 27.

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

-Rabindranath Tagore

Butterfly activity is still sparse in my neck of the woods. Haven't had many visitors lately. The American Painted Lady butterfly is still passing through town on their way up the coast to where ever they go and end up at. Saw a skipper or two several weeks ago, but they have seemed to move on for the moment.

The garden now features several different species of milkweed for Monarch butterflies, so it should be ready to receive caterpillars when the adults finally arrive. With the milder than average winter and early spring we're experiencing, it's hard to believe that we are still a few days away from April, so patience is a must when it comes to waiting for butterflies to show up in our gardens around here. My general observations have been that most species of butterflies make themselves well known by mid May, with June through September being the peak months for the majority of our local species.

YAY! The Butterfly Festival at the Dorcas E. Utter Memorial Butterfly Pavilion in El Cajon, California will take place on Saturday, April 5th. Sounds like its going to be a rather big shindig with scheduled activities and exhibitors listed. Check out their site for festival information and directions how to get there.

ALSO:

Found a real nice collapsible laundry hamper that looks tailor-made for a butterfly rearing cage. I bought one a couple of years ago with a model that doesn't have a zippered lid like this new one has. ¡Très chichi! On the older model, I have to put a light piece of cloth over the top and secure it with a section of rope so that the cats won't escape. the new one zips open and closed: ¡Voila! Sports two loop handles too. WOW!

Whitmor Collapsible Hamper

One can buy "butterfly cages" specifically advertised for raising caterpillars and holding adult butterflies, but they charge a bit more for them, and are smaller than the one shown above. They are of the same design and quality as the laundry hampers, just different advertising and without the zippered top on some models.

Collapsible laundry hampers can be purchased online and at most - if not all - big box stores such as Walmart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. When not in use, they collapse and fold up flat, making storage a cinch.

DIY: Build a Butterfly Cage

No need to make a special top with the newer zippered hampers! "Awesome!" he gushed.

It's easy to make a rearing bucket out of a 5 gal. paint pail also.

“Love is like a butterfly. It goes through stages.”

-Anonymous

Just read a short article stating that the overwintering Monarch butterflies in Central Mexico are starting their journey back up to U.S. and Canadian destinations east of the Rockies. Our western race west of the continental divide has been reported to be leaving their overwintering sites along the Pacific coast and heading to the Northwest. Several reports of Monarch eggs and caterpillars have been found on milkweeds planted in folk's gardens.

 I will be coming into Laguna Beach Wednesday, April 2nd for a visit, and have several butterfly-specific plants to give to anyone who can put them to good use in their garden, or even someone else’s. Right now I don’t have much, but there are many different plants waiting in the wings for distribution when they are of sufficient size. This is what I have at the moment and will bring with me if anyone is interested. I will be sitting in the outside patio area of the Coffee Pub in the Laguna Village area on Forest Ave.:

1-1gal. Cassia bicapsularis ‘Worley’s Buttercream’. Medium sized shrub with yellow/cream colored flowers. Can be trained into a small tree with proper pruning. Full sun, fairly drought tolerant once established. Host plant to the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly.

2-1gal. Cassia bicapsularis. Typical vivid yellow blooms of the species. Everything else same as above.

1-1gal. Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’. Also known as Mexican Sunflower. ‘Torch’ is an almost neon orange/red annual variety that gets to about 3 -4 feet tall and as wide. Likes water; its flowers are a strong magnet to hummingbirds and butterflies, especially the various swallowtail butterfly species. Let some of the seed heads ripen to attract seed eating birds, and collect some for yourself to plant in the garden for the next year. Fast grower, easy to grow. Does very well in a large pot.

Next time I visit there should be several species of milkweed for Monarch butterflies to host on plus a few other plants I’m not sure of yet.

The only universal requisite for these plants is that they need at least six hours of full sun per day; the more the merrier. The milkweeds need all day (~8 hrs.) to grow properly.

"Women, don't get a tattoo.  That butterfly looks great on your breast when you're twenty or thirty, but when you get to seventy, it stretches into a condor."
-Billy Elmer

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formally known as Wild Animal Park) outside of Escondido, California, will be hosting its annual Butterfly Exhibit April 5-27. If you're planning on visiting the park, March and April are the optimum months to visit, as the weather is Goldilocks perfect: warm and balmy coupled with a refreshing afternoon breeze. Come in April and you can see the Butterfly Exhibit!

It's been a while since I flogged the dead horse, so here goes:

I'm still pissed off with the City of  Laguna Beach for not allowing volunteers to maintain the Alta Laguna Park Butterfly Garden, and for allowing it to go to pot; no, they didn't turn it into a dispensary. On the other hand, the City of Huntington Beach has been quite gracious in allowing Leslie Gilson to successfully spearhead efforts to create a butterfly garden in one of their city's parks. Kudos to local gov't. and volunteer efforts in turning what was basically an abandoned community park into a maintained and viable butterfly habitat.

Norma Gibbs Butterfly Park

HB Trees:  Gibbs Butterfly Park

The City of Laguna Beach had an existing butterfly garden already in the process of maturation. Its positive effect on the local butterfly populations was dramatic, plus those who happened to stumble upon the garden derived much pleasure out of it. What at one time was a biotically sterile monoculture slope of prostrate acacia ground cover, was transformed into a viable butterfly habitat that was diverse for other insects and birds to boot.

I haven't laid eyes on it for over half a year now; it didn't look good then, and I'm sure it doesn't look any better now. No one who knows the garden and me (Me? Myself? I? The butterfly dude? English grammar sux.) has commented on its status, so it can only be assumed that nothing has been done to it to improve it, let alone maintain what may be left of it.

There. I'm done.

For now.

"We kill all the caterpillars, then complain there are no butterflies.”

-John Marsden

The container garden is kicking into high gear and about to go into overdrive. As far as host plants go, the Dill, Fennel, and Common Rue are large enough to receive swallowtail caterpillars at this point. I don't expect to start seeing Anise, Black, and Giant swallowtails until mid May the earliest, unless the almost nonexistent winter coupled with an early spring bring them in sooner . By then, their host plants will be big enough to support a "plethora" of plump and plucky cats.


Monarchs will most likely not show up until around May/June, but that's O.K., as I have no milkweed plants to speak of. They are all in seedling or germination stages, with plant maturity not expected until well into June for the faster growing species.

The passion vine is growing nicely! It's trailing up the trellis at a good rate, and should be able to host many Gulf Fritillary caterpillars by the time adults arrive in June/July sometime.

The cassia (host plant for Cloudless Sulfur butterflies) is small, but will be sufficient in size by July when they start flitting in.

Many of the plants are already blooming, all are prospering, and American Painted Ladies are beginning to make their presence known. If not actually overwintering in your area, it is one of the earliest butterflies to show itself in So Cal. A recent online blip remarked that the American Painted Lady butterfly is currently migrating from desert areas up towards northern destinations. Also what looks to be a female Fiery Skipper have been visiting the garden, along with a few honeybees.

Still early, I imagine other visitors will start to trickle in by the beginning of April. From past experience with lepidopterans, the early birds such as Painted Lady and some skippers become active and are seen in gardens by mid March. Slowly as the season progresses, more and more butterflies and species of butterflies increases.

Added a couple of more pots in the front.

Staging area. Almost ready to place these where they will go in the garden.

Here's a short little video on butterfly garden basics that does a ducky job on the subject. Take into account that it was made in Pennsylvania, and that some of the plants mentioned may not grow well in Southern California.

As the season progresses at the container garden, I'll be able to collect information on how the unfamiliar new plants I'm testing rate here as butterfly enticers and and the degree of garden care needed. This will enable putting together a more extensive plant list suited to Southern California gardens besides those that were showcased in the previous blog: "What's a garden without butterflies?"