Thank you Mechelle. I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I sure hope you're right, I miss them. :)

I'm 35 miles north of the Gulf in Mississippi. I got 12 gulf frit eggs that I raised myself earlier this month. The first 10 have emerged, and the last 2, late stragglers, should emerge soon. None of my releases have returned, well, there was one gulf frit that paid me a visit for several days last week, but she didn't leave me any more eggs, at least I haven't found any. Gulf frit numbers have been down the last few years. It might partly be caused by the drought in Texas, since some of mine might breed their way here from Texas, but I figure some of mine probably come from Florida. If they're scarce in both Texas and Florida, it's now wonder their numbers are down here.
So, I don't really know why numbers are down, but they've been down before and rebounded - let's hope they can rebound again! We can help by keeping plenty of passionvines growing for them.
Sherry

Miss Sherry,

My passifloras are certainly doing their part to keep plenty of passion vine around for the gulf frits...I have volunteers coming up EVERYWHERE! I have transplanted at least 35 vines for friends, and still have lots of new ones coming up. This particular vine was purchased as a "blue passiflora". I am not sure of the species, but it has a wonderful scent when in multiple blooms and has a light purple/lavender color bloom. From google image searches, it resembles the maypop. If that is indeed the species, I see why it gets that name, it 'may pop' up anywhere!

Mechelle

That's good you've got so much passionvine, Mechelle!
If it's light purple with a great smell, it's undoubtedly maypop/P. incarnata or a maypop hybrid that has a lot of its qualities - maypops are one of if not THE most commonly used passifloras in creating new hybrids. It's the favorite of gulf frits here - people in other places have said they prefer P. caerulea - but here, it's the hands-down favorite.
Sherry

First time posting but this is serendipity. Mechelle I am in Cedar Park and I too have been saddened by this rain and BF drought...all the more so as last fall I finally put in an actual garden replacing a couple of dozen potted plants. Passionflower vines are how I accidentally discovered butterfly gardening. I have had great success raising GFs, so much so that I've never had a vine make it to the end of summer!

So this year I planted plenty of Blue Passionflower vines in my new garden. But I had only seen two GFs so far, one weathered female who laid a few eggs that disappeared and one male. So I started reading this thread with interest this morning, sitting on the porch enjoying some coffee when to my amazement I lookup to see a fresh GF doing her thing! Between this and the light shower we got yesterday Hopefully it's a sign of better days to come for us in Texas! I'll try to post a couple of pictures.

Oh, and on the blue Passionflower vine...passiflora caerulea is what has worked for me. In the past the kind I've bought has had smaller, five fingered leaves. But the ones I bought online this spring have three. If anyone knows what differences there might be between the two varieties I'd like to know.

Sorry for the long post but I guess that's what happens when you lurk for too long!

Brian

Here she is in action:

{{gwi:489528}}

{{gwi:489529}}

{{gwi:489530}}

And one of her presents...

{{gwi:489531}}

Close-up

{{gwi:489532}}

Great pictures, Brian!

Sherry

Yes, they sure are Brian! Thanks for letting us see! Blue passion is also acceptable to the Frits, I have them too. I don't know if it's because mine are still immature (a year old in Sept, I grow mine from seed) but they are already flowering. The Frits just seem to prefer the incarnata, at least in my garden. I also have p. edulis, and they stick their nose up at it about 85 percent of the time.
I'm sooo glad to hear you have some new babies on the way :)

Terrific pictures, Brian.

I'm a dedicated butterfly and hummingbird gardener and this year is the worst I've ever seen for most species of butterflies. I live in Central Florida about twenty-five miles west of Disney. We had drought conditions and wildfires through almost all of June until the last week when it started raining.

I saw my first Monarch today since about two months ago. I have seen very few Fritillaris, no Zebra Longwings at all and only a limited number of Giant Swallowtails and Tigers. The Goldwing are coming back strong. I have all sorts of eggs on my pipevines and two or three flittering around. I've seen virtually all the major butterflies so far, but they are far reduced in numbers as compared to past years.

The rains and heat are here, so the things that flitter should be back in better numbers soon. Thankfully the hummingbirds have been around in good numbers.

It's been a much slower year for me than the past two. I'm trying to patient and have seen a slight increase in activity in the past week or so, but still no GF's. :-/

~Laura

Something is affecting the GFs here also. There were some cats and such earlier in spring. Now I see a single GF butterfly on occasion, no eggs or cats anywhere, as far as I know. There are plenty of the passies in my yard. Of course, the drought is very very extreme. We had one rain late last month, but after such a long time of no rain, it hardly wet the surface of the ground. Now the soil is completely dry again where not watered. No skeeters...not complaining about that, but other insects are disappearing also. We had similar things happen in the summer of 2009 and it got worse than it is now. We're in Stage II water restictions...would have been in Stage III, if that rain hadn't come along when it did. I fear that the holiday will bring more wildfires, as a minority of people just don't seem to want to bother to take precautions. Already I see 5 new fires on the state wildfire map just since Friday.

WOW...Awesome pics Brian! Thanks for sharing. I have not yet seen a Gulf in my zone 7a Georgia yard this season.

Thank you for taking the time to post the great photos, Brian. Now I have a reference for the GF eggs. Sherry's photo of the GF allowed me to ID the first one I've ever seen in my garden just a few days ago. She was feeding. I don't know if she left eggs but now I'll know what to look for on my maypop vines. I've been searching on the vines since I saw her but didn't know exactly what the eggs would look like. Now I do! Thanks once again for sharing. We all learn so much on this helpful forum.

Mary

I ususally see GFs by the droves in my yard but have only seen 2 so far this year...one must have laid eggs on my Blue passionvine because I saw a cat on it yesterday! It has been a very slow BF season for me with all the heat & drought here in North Texas...just west of DFW! We also had the coldest winter here in 20 years with temps as low as 6 & 9 degrees F. I sure hope the BF activity picks up!!!
I have 2 Blue P.caeruleas that have a leaf structure of 5 points per leaf. I think varieties of Maypop have 3 points/leaf. It's interesting...the Maypop I planted is coming up everywhere, also & I moved it because the GFs were all but ignoring it here. It keeps coming up all over the place where I must have left a few root pieces!
I have new Passifloras this season I am trying...a deep purple that was given to me that I think is 'Incense' & 'Lady Margaret' that is a cross between a Maypop & a red...I think!??? Is it OK for GFs??? Please let me know!

They will use 'Incense' Imabirdnut, but here they don't use it until the maypops are eaten down to the nubs. This year the gulf frits have been scarce, so there's been no need for them to use any passionvine other than their favorite. They'll also use 'Lady Margaret' and thrive on it, so apparently the chemistry of the leaves is more like P. incarnata, the pollen parent, than P. coccinea the 'mother' parent.
Unfortunately, chemistry aside, the vine has apparently inherited the sensitivity to cold of P. coccinea. Maybe if somebody would cross them and use the pollen of P. coccinea to pollinate P. incarnata/maypops, the result would be more cold hardy, I don't know. It might be a project for me to try one day. I loved the burgundy flowers, but I don't like buying a new one every year. The vine was vigorous, growing a lot its one and only year.
Here's a picture of the flower - Lady Margaret was growing beside P. 'Incense' and the dark green leaves (5-lobed) are 'Incense' and the lighter leaves are Lady Margaret.
{{gwi:461621}}

Sherry

The gulf frits are here. All over. Even the p. cerulean (sp?) which is their last resort is hit. We've only released 55, but there are many many more out there raising themselves. Hope everyone else sees more. Finally have been getting some rain over the past 10 days or so which should help.

Just wanted to say that I found a late-instar cat out on the Maypop today and brought it in. If it's not parasitized already it might make it now. I don't usually raise these at all because they're usually so numerous, but I will now because they're scarce. That last GF I saw a while back must have been a female.

I wish we'd get Gulf Frits up here. Then I might have a reason to keep the passionvine. Ha. They are very pretty and I enjoy all of the pics on here of them. Can I assume that Lady Margaret wouldn't be an annual up here? Wow, that is such a beautiful flower! I have an idea now...maybe I could plant an annual passionvine up here instead of having the maypop. At least that way I'd have it for the VF's if/when they show up here, and I also wouldn't have to worry about it taking over the place. After watching a Youtube video, it scared me away from wanting the maypop here, so I'm trying to kill it. I guess I'm not a daring person. :) Where did you get your Lady Margaret? I'd be interested in getting one of those if it's an annual up here. That bloom is absolutely stunning and I'd love to have it here. I know it was mentioned that I could put maypop in a pot, but assuming that I'd have to bring it inside over the winter, that doesn't really thrill me as I already have several other plants to lug in and out every year. Yeah, when they're big pots and you have a bad back, the word "lug" is appropriate, I think. :)
Cathy

Well, I don't know about where you live, but here the only passie the VF seems to like is the Maypop! It also likes flax plants.

I'm not sure either if it would be that way here too, Linda (the VF only liking the Maypop). I wonder how it is that I missed seeing info that they eat flax plants. I used to have some but took it out several years back because I really didn't like it all that well and no butterflies went to it for nectar. I don't know if there are different types of flax and maybe that one wasn't a host plant?

My eggs have hatched...only found 3 or 4 cats so far but they are still very small. Like Linda I've never bothered to raise them in an enclosure but I'm thinking I should with these. Any suggestions on the best way to keep some cut passionflower vine fresh?

Here's a close up of two:

{{gwi:489533}}

Cathy,

You can plant your Maypops in a pot in the ground. This will keep it from going past the pot. People do this all the time with mint since it is so invasive. Make sure the pot is fairly large.

The Lady Margaret is a beautiful passionflower. However, it doesn't seem to attract the Variegated Fritillaries. It is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillaries. I grow it in a pot and bring it into the garage in the winter.

Sandy

The only passion vine I have ever seen listed for VFs is the native, P. incarnata. I have Lavender Lady, which is a gorgeous vine with deep purple flowers, but only the GFs use it as a host.

In your location, Cathy, I imagine they use the Violets as a host, too, no?

I have seen no GFs this season, but have quite a bit of incarnata for them. On the other hand, butterflies are few and far between this year, I'm assuming due to the drought all around me. I keep my garden watered well, but one tiny spot in the middle of a city is not enough to draw them in. I have a few Black Swallowtails and Cabbage Whites, and that is about it, except for the tiny butterflies like Reakirt's Blue, Gray Hairstreaks, and Red Banded Hairstreaks. I have tons of Gray Hairstreak larva on my Hibiscus coccineus.

Have only seen occasional Question Marks, but lots of Hackberry Emperors. I do think I have some Red Admiral cats now as I had a huge mama visit for a few days about 2 weeks ago. Forgot about them....oops!

Have lots of sunflowers, too, but no Silvery Checkerspots yet, and have only seen one over the last month. No Wild Indigo Duskywings which I usually have plenty of as well. I am probably going to have to let the garden go a bit soon because of watering restrictions we anticipate coming, and it is just costing too much to keep it up. Most all perennials will die back and return next year.

Hope things change soon, but it looks like the drought will continue thru until fall at least. Next week's temps, no relief, will be up in the 105-106 degree range here. Lots of humidity as well.

Ugh.......................

Susan

Wow Susan (and all in drought-stricken areas) we hope you get some relief soon!

My question is about maypops not growing out of pots. They have always done so in my experience, but you (Sandy, that is) mention using a "large" pot. How large? B/c I've had them in like 5-gallon pots and they've sent runners out the bottom. So now they are in pots and always up on something, piece of wood, piece of tile, something, or they are mostly just on the patio where they are not near open ground. they are wild!

The heat and drought in your area are really terrible, Susan! We had temps that reached 100 degrees briefly for a few days, and I couldn't stand it, rarely ever went outside, except to water plants. Since we got the good rain about a ?week ago, the temps aren't so hot, only making it to the relatively comfortable low 90's. I'm so sorry about your weather conditions - if you can't water, you won't have a garden. :(
Sherry

I'd line the pot with some window screen so the roots can't penetrate. I know the roots are rather large, as I've dug them out before. I'd probably use a 20 gallon pot to give the plant plenty of room. You can always dig around the pot each year to make sure the roots don't stray. Make sure the bottom holes are plugged with rocks, etc. This makes a lot more sense to me if you are wanting to contain the plant. I just pull up the stragglers and mow over them to keep them in check in my garden. But, I don't plant to plant anymore mint without doing exactly what I just described!

sandy

Yes, it was 110 degrees here on Saturday. Yesterday it finally cooled down to 102.

Susan

Susan, I feel your pain. We've been baking up here in Tulsa too - 100+ degrees for days on end until that is today. Looked like the OKC area got a bit of rain today and I hope your yard was included in that.

~Laura

A male gulf frit nectared in my garden today, but he flew off before I could get his picture. He looked to be newly emerged, and boy was he beautiful! Hopefully, he'll bring his wife tomorrow! :)
I got some rain - .30" - yesterday, and we probably got 2" today. It continued to rain until dark, so I haven't checked the rain gauge. I loved the downpour, even the lightning was okay, since it comes with heavy rain.
I sure hope those of you who are baking will get relief soon in the form of rain and cooler temps!
Sherry

The rain did help....a lot! Thanks for the wishes, they must have really helped us y'all!

The temps cooled down significantly and my a/c finally began to work again. In the heat it just has to work too hard to be very effective.

I saw a WID yesterday in the yard so maybe I will get eggs!

Susan

Sandy, As prolific as those Maypops seem to be, if I put a pot into the ground, I'll think I'll armor plate it so they can't escape. lol I have dozens upon dozens of pieces of it coming up now. If this glyphosate method actually works, I imagine it will take awhile to get rid of it from the garden. I'm trying to control the urge to dig them out, but I did have to take some out for starts and to feed the VF cats that I have. I think she stopped at three eggs, which is okay. I'm just thrilled to have some, and it also gave the passionvine a reprieve of sorts, as now that made me want to keep it here but in a pot.

If other mints are like the catnip that I have growing here for our cats (the bees like it too), I can imagine it would need to be contained. I'm always pulling up small plants.

Isn't that funny how one passionvine is liked by the VFs and another isn't. Those are the only fritillaries that we get up here that even eat passionvine since we're too far north for Gulf Fritillaries. They've been reported in our state but I think only in a few counties, so I'd say it's a very rare occasion that they're seen in PA (i.e. next to nonexistent). Anyway, I might grow Lady Margaret one day anyway since it looks absolutely beautiful in pictures.

Susan,
I think Lavender Lady is also a very pretty passion flower. There are a few passionvines that I've seen pictures of that I really didn't care for but LL certainly isn't one of them. Most of them are pretty, and some are exceptionally pretty. I just wish that we got GFs up here. Yes, the VF cats will also eat violets, but I've only been feeding these three that I have passionvine (so far anyway).

I really hope that it rains there soon, Susan. Droughts are the pits! It's not supposed to rain here for awhile, but we're nowhere nearly as dry as you are there. It rained so much in April and May and now it's kind of dry but not terribly. Some years it gets so dry that when you walk through the lawn it goes crunch crunch.

I'm glad that you're at least getting to see some butterflies, but I'm sure you'd like to see more. Mostly what I've been seeing here are skippers, but a Variegated Fritillary apparently got by me. I see a few other kinds too, but they're not plentiful (yet?) this year like they were last year. Last evening I noticed that the Cabbage Whites founds the cabbage plants that I planted for them. We aren't too crazy about cabbage, but I bought a 4-pack of it at the hardware store a few months ago just for them. :) When it's otherwise butterfly-less around here, I can almost always count on the Cabbage Whites to be here and cheer me up.

I saw a Question Mark here several times and was kind of expecting to find eggs but so far nada. We made chicken on the grill (charcoal) a few days ago and QMS are apparently attracted to chicken skin/bone with BBQ sauce on it because one was there on it for the longest time the next day and I think a day or more afterwards.

I wish I'd have had my camera outside with me the other day. I saw a Hackberry Emperor here for the first time ever and was really excited about it. It landed right in front of me, less than a yard away and only stayed for a couple of seconds, but I knew what it was. I haven't seen it since. When I first started checking out the BAMONA website in about 2006, I saw that they had been reported in our county and I kept wondering where they were. Since I saw that 5 kinds of butterflies use hackberry as a host, I started a few of them from seed and still have them sitting around in pots that I merely bring in on our screened back porch if I get eggs on any of them. The only eggs I've ever gotten on them are Question Marks. I know that Tawny Emperors and American Snouts also use hackberry, but I've never even seen them here, although I know they've been reported here in central PA.

I saw a Red Admiral here a few times this year. Some years I don't see them at all. I finally have a bunch of hackberry plants growing and so maybe one day I'll be able to raise RA cats. I want to make sure I keep the plants watered enough that they don't die. We've already been starting to water some things so we don't lose them. I've been watering the New Jersey tea plants ever since I planted them outside back in May because I know how easily I lose them here. I start them from seed and they grow so slowly (I guess because they're a bush and not a regular garden plant), and I lose some along the way, and I want them to have a good chance of making it so I keep them watered every day. I started the NJ tea bed two years ago when I decided to not have it as a strawberry patch anymore because I couldn't do all of that bending to pick them. I didn't want to turn it back into lawn again, so it will be a NJ tea bed for the azures.

Maybe your Wild Indigo Duskywings are late there like they were here. I'm just starting to see more than just one or two. There were some out nectaring on the Verbena bonariensis yesterday, so I bet that I'll soon start finding eggs on the B. australis. This is the first year that it bloomed and the flowers were so pretty! That's turning out to be another plant for me that's hard to get a section of it going. If I don't keep it watered, it croaks. I mean the small ones that are just transplanted out there from their small pots that I start them in and from the jug that I winter sowed them in. I think I have about 16 plants so far, but only 6 of those were planted in 2009 (those were the ones that bloomed this year) and the rest were put in there last year and this year. I don't even have that one side totally filled in yet, and then I want to do the other side of the upper garden path. Altogether it should end up being about 50 plants, ao those Wild Indigo Duskywings and Clouded Sulphurs should be happy then! :) I know there are others that I have listed that will use it as a host plant, but those are the only two kinds that I've found here so far over the past couple of years.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for rain for you!

Cathy

I was doing some work by the passionvines that grow on the picket fence around the front yard and was shocked to see this -
{{gwi:489534}}

It's hard to believe cats could get that far along without me seeing them, especially since I'm in that area frequently, but I've noticed that a lot of cats will come out in the open on cloudy days, like today.
I looked and looked for more, but could only find one more -
this one has recently molted, and is just beginning to get back its coloring, including the black spines. I really wish I had gotten this picture a little sooner, when the spines were clear blonde -
{{gwi:489535}}

I brought these two cats in to finish raising. I can't recall a wasp ever coming out of a gulf frit chrysalis, so they probably haven't been parasitized, 'sure hope so anyway!
Hopefully, a female will visit again and lay more than just two eggs! :)

Sherry

What nice photos MsSherry-especially the one of it molting. I
didn't know they did this! ANd I'm hoping you'll find more than these two-there's still a chance :)

Sherry,

I hope you don't get parasites on your GFs. Here, if I don't bring them in, the rate of successful eclosure is almost nil. I find the chrysalides all over the place with small round holes in them. Last year, there were so many cats so I left lots of them outside. There were over 50 chrysalides on the wooden fence rails. Everyone of them was parasitized.

So far haven't seen any GFs. Susan hasn't either. Hopefully, they will show up later on in the season.

Ugh! :(
I sure hope that doesn't happen with these two, Sandy!
I think one of my problems in finding eggs/hatchlings is that I've got so much passionvine, I'm not examining each leaf like I should. I just give them a once over, which obviously isn't good enough.
I'll let you know how these turn out.
Sherry

In April there were plenty around just as I completed planting my butterfly garden project. Then they disappeared, even when the Zinnias started blooming. Now that the summer storms have started, I'm seeing some again and there are cats on the passionflower. I planted Zinnias especially for them. Hope to see a lot more before the Zinnias completely decline. I have a new batch of seeds freshly planted in another area, hope they stick around long enough to enjoy them. But otherwise there are plenty of the Swallowtails and Sulphurs, have been for several weeks. Also now starting to see the Zebra Swallowtails again, they also disappeared along with the Frits. I also keep the passionflower in a pot. It has a lot of fruit on it, but don't know anything about when it is ripe, etc., does anyone out there use the fruit?

Rita, if you have incarnata, it never 'ripens,' or as to say it stays green when ripe. It is very delicious, and the way I gauge ripeness is to remember the weight. If it feels hollow when you pick it up from underneath in your hand, it is not ripe. It will get heavier as the fruit develops around the seeds. When you do open a ripe one, the seed will be very dark brown to black. It's very tasty. Caerulea's fruit yellows and is not good to eat. Incarnata is my DH's favorite, even over p. edulis, the commercially cultivated one.

One of the two chrysalides has emerged this morning, and it's hanging upside down in the cage right now. The other one pupated a day or two later, so it should emerge in a day or two.
I guess at least this one managed to hide from the predators as well as it hid from me! :) I'm really happy to see a perfect gulf frit!
Sherry

Congratulations. I planted a passion vine this year - but not a single fritillary. Sigh. And it's taking over my garden. Should have done more research I guess before I planted it but I was hoping to have as many frits as I did last year, in which case, there would probably be not much passion vine left. Oh well... maybe next year.

It may be the only thing in my garden that survives this heat. Seems to grow several feet each day.

~Laura

I'm not seeing as many as this time last year but there are always GF's flying about so they have to be laying somewhere. The cats I have seen have been mostly on the Suberosa but earlier this season, it was my Lady Margaret and Insense. Nothing so far on my Maypops, which really surprises me. Of course I would love to save the Maypops for the ZLWs but I have only seen 1 this season and it was sometime ago. A friend of a friend says they are everywhere in South Florida. Seems like they are changing their range to a smaller part of Florida each year,
staying more to the coast and south.

Sorry you're not getting any gulf frits, Laura!
That's too bad if the zebra range is shrinking, Mary. I got one visit years ago, haven't seen a single one since. If they're retreating, I'll probably never see one here again.
I just released the gulf frit - she's a female. The sun came out, the temps went up to 90 degrees, and she was flying all around the cage wanting out, but now I'm hearing thunder out there. I sure hope she'll be alright!
There is a pair of gulf frits that have been nectaring in my garden, a male and a female, but the female hasn't laid me any eggs, at least I haven't seen her do so. So I'm wondering if they haven't mated, maybe don't like each other, strange as that sounds? Maybe he'll like the female just released, and I'll get some eggs/cats! :)
Sherry

Laura, this is Sandy's info she gave me on looking for VFs on P. incarnata. She told me that they lay eggs on the new sprouts low to the ground. If you just planted yours this year, you may not see any this year, but next year when you begin seeing it sprout everywhere, look for them then.

I hope Sandy comes in here to verify this tidbit of info.

Susan

As far as I can notice, VF's lay eggs on newer growth of Maypop, up high or low.

The second of the two gulf frits emerged today, another female. So neither were parasitized - YAY!

The only difference I noticed in the egg-laying pattern of variegated frits as compared to gulf frits, is that VFs always lay their white eggs on the leaves, never on the tendrils, which gulf frits do frequently. Most VF eggs are found down low, but then they're a butterfly that flies low to the ground.
Sherry

Thank you for that information Susan, I actually do have several small new sprouts coming up from the ground, but I haven't seen a single fritillary all year (I've seen variegated fritillaries in the yard but no where near the passion vine.) It is good to know, though, where to look for the eggs should the gulf frits ever show up!

~Laura

I love looking at the pictures you folks share, Thank you so much! info too. It's wonderful how much you all are so willing to share so much! ~Tina Marie

Yay!!!!.....I finally saw a Gulf Frit in the yard today...haven't seen since April....was very worried....She was laying eggs....so more soon I hope....I was sure missing my butterflies

janine

Congrats Janine! Be sure to share pictures too! I just love to oogle them! :D

~Tina Marie

Congrats, congrats, Janine!
Sherry

I have 5 gulf frit butterflies in my garden. And tons of skippers.