Beautiful shot Sherry. I am happy that you had a GF laying eggs. I have yet to see one in my yard. I am checking my Passionvine daily. Last fall, I think I released like 50 adult Gulf Fits. I am not seeing any big butterflies other than Tigers. The 2 Spicebush cats I raised earlier both eclosed within a couple of weeks, but good old Zebra #4 is still inside its chrysalis. I moved it outside a good while back thinking that would surely do the trick, but no. I did see a big yellow Tiger swooping into the leaves on my Weeping Cherry a week or so ago, and it did seem to be laying eggs. It was up high, and I will get the ladder out and look, but it will be like finding a needle in a haystack I think. Angie

Hi!! new to posting here, but I am sharing your frustration over GSTs. I just ordered 3 more from Shady Oaks, and two bit it by the time I got up this morning. I thought maybe a tiny spider was getting the one itty bitty, but I couldnt see too well, but it may have been another cat I saw balled up over him. Thinking it was a spider, I swatted it away. So I have one lone cat left, just like last time. The last one got really big, and I guess he finally wandered off to pupate. But he sure didnt move much. So I will watch the one ittbitty. I did get some really huge PVSTs. I have never seen one! I really hope they pupate alright. And after being so sad over not getting any BSTs on my very lush fennel, I ordered some along with this order, and presto! new hatched cats! Oh and GF when just hatched look like short little yellow strings. Then they get red. I watch them munching out my kitchen window.The funny thing also is my mom thought I was insane when I started getting into this, so that my then 5 yo son could see the lifecycle, after awhile, and taking her to Shady oaks for the tour, she absolutley loves it too now. This is addictive. They're like my little babies!!--Traci

I'm looking forward to seeing those white eyes! The caterpillar is growing steadily and needed more food this morning, so I cut a tender young sprig of leaves from the passi I found it on, which is P. Amethyst. I added some P. incarnata/maypops to the water pick with the 'Amethyst' because gulf frit cats seems to grow faster and bigger on it. If it eats the maypops first, I'll just keep feeding it maypops. The leaves on my 'Amethyst' or 'Lavender Lady' don't look good - they're blotchy looking. The gulf frits that are on the vine seem to be eating the best leaves and growing okay, but I wonder, does anybody else's 'LL'/'Amethyst' have blotchy, unhealthy looking leaves? If I had to guess, I'd think they've got a virus. I've noticed this happens a lot with several of the hybrids I've tried, I can't recall any of the species, like P. incarnata, P. mucronata, having it. Not all hybrids look bad - 'Lady Margaret' is clean, but doesn't get that many eggs laid on it. 'LL'/'Amethyst' is blooming profusely now, and the flowers are gorgeous! When the cat has grown a little more, I'll post another picture. Sherry

I get both Fritillaries and Zebras on my subarosas. These vines now come up in many places on my property. The Frits like the passion vines more, however. I now have this huge infestation of Mexican Flame vines (Pseudogynoxus chenopodioides). They are covering many of my other plants. I'm going to wait until they stop blooming before I try to rip them out again. For now the butterflies are loving them. I'm seeing quite a few Giant Swallowtails for some reason. I have seen only a few Frits, but quite a few Sulfurs, some Monarchs and some Polydamas. I haven't seen a black swallowtail or a Pipevine yet.