The lifespan of an individual is dependant on many factors, but generally is relatively short with most species of Lepidoptera that do not have a brood that over-winters as adults. Some species who do not feed in the adult stage at all have very short lifespans in that stage. With wild Battus maybe an 8-10 days adult life is possible, but females start tapering off on fertility as soon as they start laying eggs and probably are no longer (gravid in as little as 3-4-5 days. How many total they lay also is dependant on many factors, but anything over maybe 150-175 per female from this species would be high, and they may lay a much lower number. Big difference from some species of Lepidoptera where an individual female lays eggs numbered in the tens of thousands. Getting constant eggs AND seeing adults over a longer period is simply from various individuals who eclosed and became gravid at differnt times over many days or weeks.

Kelly - I have the same issue here in Central Florida. I have small white-veined and use it when I do find cats but you are correct in that they are slow growers here in this hot weather. I find they grow faster in the fall when we start to have cooler days and nights. I watched a female lay eggs on Sunday on my Calico Pipevine and I know they won't survive unless I move them. I have successfully raised 2 cats on the most tenderness, smallest leaves of my Calico but that meant hand picking leaves and raising the cats indoors (well, on my porch). To then release them to know that they will only lay eggs again on the Calico (if they are females/found a male as well), I find it rather useless to go through the effort. However, there must be some form of host plant around as I see them pretty routinely in my yard. I wish I knew what it was and where it was. I have tried Virgina Snakeroot to no success - so, I guess its survival of the fittest in this case.

Bev27, if that "less than 20 years" is on a replacement roof, that's about all you get in So-Fla. I do not know why original tile roofs last 25 years but replacement tile roofs only last 16-18 years... BIG MYSTERY!?!? You'd think the tract home builders would be using the cheaper underlayment, etc. Might have to do with trusses sagging over time...? (FYI: if you ARE on your original tile roof, when they strip it off, every ceiling in your house will crack a little, because the trusses will "bounce back" when that tremendous weight is removed. No biggie, a bit of spackling and paint... but save the interior re-mod/re-paint 'til after the roof job. ;') I'm in Ft. Laud, got the worst of Wilma, and the houses with cheapie thin shingles took flight, while those with heavier higher quality shingles were fine. If your area of SW FL has not yet adopted the Miami-Dade codes (as Broward has), then it's up to you to get familiar with them, and get quotes based on that... e.g. RING-SHANK NAILS, closer nail spacing, etc. That said, NO, you do NOT want to downgrade to asphalt shingles. The concrete (not thin clay barrel tiles) tiles will last 2.5-3 times longer than shingles, PLUS the esthetics, property value, and COOLING COSTS issues. If upfront cost is an issue, the recent run-up in values should give you plenty of equity to borrow against. Having my own home plus rental props in So-Fla, I realize that I am really just RENTING MY ROOF... yep, it's about $100/month/property! (OOPS, that's 2003 pricing... ) The experience vireyafl had in Andrew with CEMENT-glued tiles is no longer a problem if the new EPOXY FOAM is used--it's rated for 208MPH! Make sure you get that too. The METAL roofing sounds promising, but of course the problem is finding a roofer that KNOWS how to install it properly. Perhaps mfrs. websites list roofers they have certified via training and inspection of their jobs. Of course since the attic is well-nigh useless in So-Fla, I'd REALLY rather have the all-concrete roof (pre-stressed T-sections anyone?), and only have to worry about caulking up the seams every N years. ;')

When Louis Phillippe declines, it is usually a root problem. Louis seems prone to root rot diseases, this is usually due to poor drainage but can be spread by nearby, or previously removed, infected plants. Another reason for decline can be Roundup, many lawn services use it instead of pulling weeds. I was a commercial landscaper for years in Florida and we used "own root" roses in many landscape with virtually no loss. We did not use chemicals to maintain our landscapes. Our "goto" rose varieties were Mrs. BR Cant , Louis Phillipe, Rosette Delizy. We planted plants high in the ground. The top of plant's roots would be 2" above soil level. We then covered the bed with 3" of mulch so the root would be covered with 1" of mulch. High planting helps with soil borne disease and is recommended by IFAS . This link is a good guide for Florida planting instructions: http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/Install-Your-Trees-and-Shrubs-Properly.pdf Any chance that you are getting salt water in the roots zone due to salt water intrusion? We had this problem with a property that we landscaped in Cedar Key. Planting on berms solved the problem. https://www.wuft.org/specials/water/saltwater-intrusion/