Plant It, But They Might Still Not Come

Caterpillar of common buckeye
Southern dogface sulfur


 
Phaon crescent
I have spent a lot of time and energy planting my landscape to provide for pollinators. Some, like the bees and pollinating wasps are now a diverse part of my pollinating fauna, but I am still awaiting quite a few of the butterflies. I am always excited to see one using my landscape, but only a few have become firmly established by laying eggs and multiplying.  A lot is written these days about monarchs and I am sensitive to their significant drop in population numbers, but I worry a bit more about all the others that seem to be below everyone's radar these days. So many are simply not as charismatic as a monarch and few are as large and showy. In my mind, it stands to reason that if one butterfly is suffering from the widespread use of pesticides and loss of host plants with which to raise its offspring, the same must be true for a great many others.

My bible for Florida butterflies and what to plant here is the superbly written/illustrated book Florida Butterfly Caterpillars by Marc Minno, Jerry Butler, and Donald Hall. It has always directed me in choosing appropriate host plants for the butterflies present in my part of the state. Since my arrival here in my new home, I have added as many as I could and some of them are being fed upon as I planned. The water bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) has received the attention of white peacocks, the water dropwort (Tiedemannia filiformis) and mock bishopweed (Ptilimnium capillaceum) have helped raise eastern black swallowtails and my various sennas have seen their share of cloudless and orange-barred sulfurs.  Monarchs are provided for and they are nearly ever-present. Recently, I found a common buckeye caterpillar on my wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis), but search as I might, I have not found a second or seen adults looking to lay eggs. I am hoping it was not an aberrant occurrence, but the start of something bigger. One never knows. Here in my suburban desert, it is not always possible to lure butterflies to my island oasis.  You can plant what they need, but they still have to cross vast areas to find you. That's asking a lot - especially in these days and times.

My backyard has extensive areas of fogfruit (Phyla nodiflora), but I have yet to see my first phaon crescent. The same is true for its close cousin - the pearl crescent which uses asters (Symphyotrichum spp.). I have planted all three native species of leadplants (Amorpha spp.), but there have been no southern dogface sulfurs here in the nearly 4 years that I've been at it. My skipper population has been extremely scanty despite all of the plantings I have made for them.  It takes patience to see my woodland develop to the extent that it might provide for migratory songbirds, but I'm finding that it takes nearly as much to get many of the butterflies that I have purposely planted for. Patience and the hope that their populations also are not in peril with no one paying much attention. Creating a living landscape is not about ensuring the health of one or two species. It's about creating conditions for life itself in all forms.

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