Butterfly Host and Nectar Plants

We've been working hard on our plant list and it is nearly finished. Not all of these plants will be available in early spring. Some will be grown to order only.

If you can't find info on our site about the plant that catches your interest, please send us an email!

~Edith


Australian Violet Viola hederacea

Aster Symphyotrichum sp

Autumn Sage Salvia greggii

Batface Cuphea llaeva

Bay Persea sp.

Black Cherry Prunus serotina

Blue Pea Vine Clitoria sp

Butterfly Bush Buddleia sp

Button Bush

Calico Vine Aristolochia elegans

Candlestick Cassia Cassia alata

Candy Corn Cuphea milvillea

Canna Lily Canna sp.

Cape Honeysuckle Techmaria capensis

Christmas Cassia Cassia bicapsularis

Coontie Zamia pumila

Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens

Creeping Indigo Indigofera spicata

Cudweed Gnaphalium sp.

Cypress Vine Ipomoea quamoclit

Deerberry vaccinium stamineum

False Nettle Bohemeria cylindrica

Fennel Foeniculum sp.

Firecracker - Upright Russelia sarmentosa

Firecracker - Weeping Russelia equisetiformis

Firespike Odontonema strictum

Frogfruit Phyla sp

Golden Dewdrop Duranta repens

Green Shrimp Blechum brownei

Hackberry Celtis sp

Heather Cuphea sp

Hercule's Cub Zanthoxylum clava herculis

Hibiscus Hibiscus sp

Hollyhock Alcea rosea

Hop Tree Ptelea trifoliata

Lemon Marigold Tagetes sp.

Liatris Liatris sp.

Loquat Eriobotrya japonica

Mexican/Summer Petunia Ruellia brittoniana

Mexican Sunflower Tithonia rotundiflolia

Mist Flower Ageratum sp.

Mock Bishop's Weed Ptilimnium capillaceum

Oleander Nerium oleander

Parsley Petroselunum sp.

Partridge Pea Cassia fasciculata

Passionvine, Blue Passiflora carula

Passionvine, Boomerang Passiflora biflora

Passionvine, Corky-stem Passiflora suberosa

Passionvine, Incense Passiflora incense

Passionvine, Lavender Lady Passiflora Lavender Lady

Passionvine, Maypop Passiflora incarnata

Passionvine, Running Pop Passiflora foetida

Pawpaw Asimina sp.

Pellitory Parietaria sp

Pepperweed Lepidium sp.

Philippine Violet Baleria sp.

Plumbago Plumbago sp.

Poplar Liriodendron tulipifera

Queen Anne's Lace Daucus carota

Rayless Sunflower Helianthus sp

Ribgrass Plantain Plantago lanceolata

Rosemary Rosemarinus officinalis

Rue Ruta graveolens

Saltbush Baccharis sp

Sassafras Sassafras albidum

Sensitive Plant Mimosa pudica

Shy Leaf Aeschynomene americana

Silky Gold Milkweed Asclepias curassavica, Silky Gold

Spicebush Lindera sp

St. Augustine Grass Stenatophrum secundatum

Stoke's Aster Stokesia laevis

Summer Farewell Dalea sp

Sweet Bay Magnolia virginiana

Sweet Gum Liquidambar styraciflua

Tansy Mustard Descurainia pinnata

Tropical Milkweed Asclepias curassavica

Tulip Poplar Liriodendron tulipifera

Turk's Cap Malvaviscus arboreus

Twinflower Dyschoriste sp.

Verbena Verbena sp

Violet Viola sp

Water Hyssop Bacopa monnieri

Wax Myrtle Myrica cerifera

Wedelia Wedelia sp.

White Vine Sarcostemma sp

Wild Lime Zanthoxylum fagara

Willow Salix sp

2008 is a Butterfly Year!

Butterflies in 2008 ... it's an exciting year for Shady Oak Butterfly Farm! Our website has a new look, we added dozens of butterfly informational pages to the site last year, and our newsletter Butterflies! has taken wings.

Searching for a bit of information on a website with over 300 pages was frustrating for our visitors. We were relieved to find a search feature that worked well. Now a visitor can simply enter a word or phrase in the search box and find pages with that information on the page.

Ask Edith is built on questions written to the farm about butterflies and butterfly gardening. Often a question is easy to answer but photos help tremendously. It takes so much time to answer some questions over and over, so we simply build a web page around a question we often receive. We enjoy sharing about butterflies; our passion for butterflies was what gave the farm it's roots and later, the newsletter was established.


We announce new pages on the site with our newsletter. After the newsletter has been published for four to six weeks, it is archived on the site where it can be accessed and read by anyone.

On January 14, the new issue will be published. In that issue is an interview with Judy Burris and Wayne Richards, brother-sister authors of 'Lifecycles of Butterflies'. Their book contains photos of the life cycle of 23 butterflies in the United States; egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult. With additional interesting information (silk from the Question Mark caterpillar is pink) tucked in, it is a fascinating and educational book.



Also included in the next issue is information about how to tell a Soldier and Queen adult butterfly apart as well as Ceraunus Blue and Cassius Blue butterflies.




We were asked, "How can I protect my caterpillars from predators without bringing them inside?" That question is answered in January 14's issue of Butterflies!



One other item in the upcoming newsletter I'd like to mention is reattaching butterfly chrysalises. Sometimes a chrysalis falls and needs to be rehung for the butterfly to emerge. If its silk is attached, it is simple. But if the silk is not attached; it is easy but takes a minute more to reattach it with glue. Most of us glue only the tip of the chrysalis. We look at chrysalises (pupae) glued farther up its shell to see how it effects emerging.

The pages linked in this blog are older pages; new pages are announced in Butterflies! Subscribe today and don't miss an issue! Subscribers simply unsubscribe (if they wish to do so) at the click of a button in the newsletter.

Happy New Year! Edith, Stephen, and our family at Shady Oak

Malachites at Lake Okeechobee

Stephen and I went to Lake Okeechobee last week. We traveled north on the east side of the lake. Every time we travel back I wheedle and plead and Stephen allows me to pull off and swing under the overpass. I climb out with my camera and have fun. This time I took photos of two Malachites. This was the first time I spotted them that far north. One was tattered and the other was fresh. Although I searched for eggs and caterpillars on green shrimp growing there, I didn't see traces of either.

I also spotted quite a few Zebra Longwing butterflies, Great Southern White butterflies, some Sulphurs, Checkered Skippers, Long-tailed Skippers, lots of Red Admirals on pellitory and drinking nectar from Spanish Needles (Bidens sp.) and White Peacocks. We did spot a little bit of False Nettle but I didn't notice Red Admirals on it. Pellitory was full of 'nests' of Red Admiral caterpillars.

Question Mark Butterfly in Winter

What a name! People become confused when I talk about the 'Question Mark' butterfly. They often think I'm saying that I can't remember the butterfly's name. There is a white 'question mark' on the outside of its hindwing. http://www.butterfliesetc.com/images/qm6.jpg It's scientific name even reflects the mark; Polygonia interrogationis. A butterfly book from the twenties calls it the 'Interrogation Butterfly'. This butterfly spends the winter as an adult. It hides in nooks and crevices in wood. A pile of firewood can make a good home for these beautiful butterflies.
They are often found eating rotting fruit. Since their only means on intake is their proboscis, a ‘drinking straw’ which curls tightly when not in use, they can only drink liquids. Rotting fruit is partially liquid. http://www.butterfliesetc.com/questionmark.html
They lay eggs upon false nettle (boehmeria cylindrical) http://www.butterfliesetc.com/falsenettle.html and sugarberry/hackberry (Celtis laevigata) http://www.butterfliesetc.com/hackberry.html. ~Edith www.butterfliesetc.com

Butterflies and Moths in Winter

As winter approaches in north Florida, I keep wondering how each species of butterfly and moth spends the winter.

Some species are clearly already prepared for winter, such as the Viceroy Limenitis archippus in our garden and on willow at the sides of the road. Willows are dropping their leaves. But every now and then I see a tightly curled leaf still on the bare limb. the Viceroy caterpillar has eaten half the leaf and curled the rest into a tube. The little rascal even sewed the leaf to the twig with webbing. Of course, that is the reason it's even on the limb when all other leaves have fallen off. With the onset of spring and new willow leaves, the caterpillar leaves the leaf curl (called a hibernaculum) to eat and grow again. http://www.butterfliesetc.com/viceroy.html

Edith Smith
Shady Oak Butterfly Farm