Hi who is Edith, does she raise eggs or chrysalis for sale? Who is shady Oaks? We have create a wonderful butterfly garden with lots of larvae plants and nectar plants but I am guessing it is the distance to our property and for acres surrounding our property is just fields of wheat now soybeans. we do not use any pesticides or herbicides. we have whites and sulphurs. I have a large bed of fennel, dill, milkweed etc. I have pipe vine and passion vines for over 4 years with not sign of any of the cool butterflies.\ We have also provided areas with fruit, and shallow mud dishes. I was thinking that a seeding of some butterflies could get it started. I could use a start to get them going.

Thanks for that info, BG! I'll try that and see what happens. Someone else suggested putting them in the fridge because they ripen faster. I'll try both and let everyone know. I know they have those fruit-ripening containers because I used to use them for terrarium plants (clear plastic with lids). But heaven knows where I found them. I grew a lot of terrarium begonias back when.....like B. ex Kew (after Kew Gardens). They probably cost an arm and a leg now. But we used to order in bulk and get them at a much lower price. Right now I am up to my ears in BSTs, too. Altho not many other butterflies, the BSTs are prolific this year. Susan

They have definitely started this morning. Two are in J shapes, hanging from a vine. There's another one who looks he's trying, but his J is not very well formed :) I was going to put them in them hamper with the BST (if they make it), is that okay? and how do you put them in there? THe BST make is easy by pupating on a stick, which I stick into flower foam and put into the hamper. I love your site :) Lisa

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