"Plant me! Plant me!", scream my ws seedlings as I walk by. Okay, I have a few planted out. Felicia heterophylla (Blue Daisy) was blooming in the container, a very pretty blue, so got them in a bed. All the poppies and snapdragons are planted out. Have potted up some Tutti Frutti lupine seedlings that will get planted out in the fall. Same with King Arthur delphiniums and NZ delphiniums. Perennial geraniums are either planted in beds or potted up. Morning glories are potted using Fran's suggestions and are growing well. I have been moving second year ws perennials from holding beds into regular beds or taking some to plant swaps. Have been pleased with the variety of columbines blooming this spring. Love the verbascum 'Violette' and the 'Early Guardian Blue' delphiniums that are blooming now. Also many variteties of dianthus and penstemon. 2nd year ws lupine was gorgeous. Have cut the flowers back except for a stem or two left to set seed. Will start planting some of this year's perennials in the open spaces of the holding beds. Didn't get many annuals sown, zinnias and nicotiana just germinating and cosmos will be direct sown this weekend. I didn't sow any red TX salvia as last year had so much from self sown. Don't see any of them this year. Wonder if I still have time to sow some as the hummers love them. Self sown linaria have been beautiful. Will sow more varieties of them next winter.

OK, thanks for the clarification. In this field, I was just thinking about the fact that many species of butterfly are more likely to mate at certain times of day. So, if you found the angle of sunlight at the time when a species preferred to mate, could you influence butterflies to mate by putting a light on the butterflies at this angle? Also, am I correct in remembering that we don't really understand how butterflies navigate during migration? Given enough resources, you could at least test navigation off of the sun and magnetic fields. However, this would probably require a completely environmentally controlled enclosure that would likely have to be at least one hundred feet tall and several square miles in area. Inside, you would need lights across most or all of the ceiling that were moveable and highly directional. Then, you could simulate migration conditions (shorter days, lower angles of the sun) and see which direction butterflies flew to migrate. Then, you could basically change the direction of "solar south" by changing where the lights pointed, and compare where the butterflies flew under the new conditions. In addition, how do butterflies respond if they are in an enclosure where the light points up from the bottom, and the plants are upside-down on the roof? Of course, this leads to a question I have pondered and considered experimenting with for a few years: Which is stronger: phototropism or gravitropism? If you hang a plant upside down with a light below it, will the plant grow up or down, and how much does this vary by species? Another thing in this field that I have observed is phototropism in caterpillars. I have been able to consistently get Papilio polexenes (Black Swallowtail) larvae to move their body one direction or another (sideways, not forward or backward) toward a light source that is near them. They don't move their feet, but just rotate their body at the feet. This is most apparent in the fifth instar when the caterpillar is resting. I do not believe I have tried this with other species. Laser pointers are fun with cats, also. I know a website someone linked to on this forum a while back (Raising Butterflies, on their Avoiding Diapause page) talks about using long periods of constant light to keep butterflies in various stages from going into diapause. Whether a laser pointer would scare a butterfly or not would probably partially depend on how it was used and moved - sudden movements in front of a butterfly would probably scare it more than turning the laser on when it was already pointed at the butterfly. You are right that it would be nice to be able to get a butterfly to open its wings simply by pointing a light at it. However, I doubt that a butterfly would open its wings for a light if it was already warmed up. This would be easy enough to test without fancy equipment, so, if I remember, I will try this next year. -Jmcat

WELL, I am planning an entire GARDEN! Does that count? Since I have moved back to teaching middle school math, I figured I need to get a butterfly garden going. There IS a garden club and the teacher who is the advisor has quite a few Milkweed plants, courtesy of moi, but he doesn't really have a 'butterly garden,' per se. I am teaching a butterly science course in a few months and I think it is sort of important that I have an actual garden up. SO, I went ahead and planted a bunch of pots of A. curassavica this week AND bought a Monarda ('Coyote Mint') and dug up and transplanted bunches of pots of Cheeseweed (Malva parviflora) and I have a humongous potted Buddleia that's been waiting to go in the ground and...you get the drift. DH said, "You may want to think about WHERE you want the garden" but I already have an idea where...right out the front of my classroom door (I only have ONE door). After all, it would make sense, right? So, I think I shall get my booty in gear this week and start digging around the area. :) I do have a number of kids who are in my informal 'butterfly club' and they've been bugging me about when our next meeting is (we've had a few before the holiday). I figure this is perfect! Junior high kids are good for labourers...hehehe! Gotta love it!

Hi Jennifer, The gulf frits eat most passies!!! The most common native host is P. incarnata (maypop). This plant is able to outgrow them for most of the season, but by late summer the cats usually get the upper hand, and completely defoliate many plants. They are nice butterflies to have around the garden, but not if they are eating a plant that you are waiting to see flower!!! Young plants are especially vulnerable. Like most insects, they lay many more eggs than their host plant can typically support. The eggs start out yellow and then turn orange and black before hatching. They seem to like laying them on the coiled up tendrils, but will also lay on the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. In your area you may also have Julia and Zebra Longwings that will lay eggs on most passies. Don't worry, they will eventually find your plant. I should have some incarnata seed at the end of the summer if you wanna get ready for next year. Let me know if you get any Zebras--I'd love to get a few eggs. Mark