Sandy, I feel like we humans are what caused the loss of so much habitat for the butterflies in the first place, and Mother Nature has now endowed us with the earnest desire to help replace it, and to help the butterflies persevere. For every caterpillar that may expire in human hands, you're right, they would probably be eaten by other birds and insects. However, I believe there are plenty of caterpillars to go around. I have lots of caterpillars that I don't raise. Sometimes the insects get to them before I do. LOL! Humans have killed a lot of caterpillars - like the Karner Blue - simply by virtually erasing their habitat. More butterflies are lost thru habitat loss than anything else. And, yes, that is by the hand of homo sapiens. There is just simply no way to make up for all the lost habitat, but I try in my small way, to protect the butterfly eggs, cats, and butterflies, as much as I can. The best way to do that is by knowledge. Reading, forums, internet searches, providing food plants in the form of nectar and host plants. I try. That's the best I can tell you. I try. I used to believe the same way that you do. Just leave them alone in the garden and let them do their thing. However, I heard Steve Irwin once say, that the only way you can truly appreciate and want to save an animal, is by holding it, touching it, being close to it. That is what makes a person want to "save" a species. So, I just merely am an instrument in helping the egg hatch, the caterpillar grow, the chrsalis hang safely, the butterfly to emerge, and then I release it into it's environment to live out it's life, however long that may be. Now, that I have raised a few, I want to "save" even more. Not spraying chemicals in my garden encourages many other insects, including those that feast on eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies. They have plenty to eat or they wouldn't stick around. LOL! Sorry to be so wordy, but raising butterflies inspires me to no lengths. I'm not criticizing or anything. I'm just conveying what it means to me. Susan

jibd, Here's my experience with your listed plants: Coral Honeysuckle (Hummingbird Clearwing Moth)-I've never tried, but it's certainly worth a shot. New England Aster-I have these for the Pearl Crescents; very pretty and hope to find cats on them someday. Purple Coneflower-without a doubt one of the most favored plants in my garden for nectaring; don't know if I've ever had a Silvery Checkerspot cat on them or not. I definitely wouldn't be without this plant! Shasta Daisy-the butterflies never showed any interest in mine so I ripped them out. Butterfly Weed-the milkweed here that is laid on the least, but the butterflies love it for nectaring. Common Milkweed-I've never tried, didn't want it popping up all over the place. Swamp Milkweed-2nd most liked milkweed here by the Monarchs for laying eggs; first most is tropical milkweed (annual). 'Silver Brocade' Artemisia-don't know if this is the kind of artemisia that I have but I get American Lady cats on it. Sunflower-my first attempt at planting these was this year and they didn't come up, probably because of the drought. Parsley-Black Swallowtail cats lay eggs on it here. Dill-BST cats lay eggs on that here too. Native violets-I get lots of fresh-looking Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies here every year; I'm guessing that they come from all of the violets that we have here. Hollyhock-I tried this plant for 3 years, but every year the sawfly larvae would have the plants skeletonized before I even saw any Painted Lady butterflies here. I ended up ripping it out. Black-eyed Susans-I've had Silvery Checkerspot cats on mine but not this year. False Nettle-this is only the first year that mine has been growing and because of the drought my plants haven't done well (even with watering). I saw Red Admiral butterflies, but I can't blame them for not wanting to lay on the plants. Other host plants that I have and have had luck with are: Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)-I get Wild Indigo Duskywing and Clouded Sulphur cats on this. Wild Senna (Cassia hebecarpa)-I also get sulphur cats on these plants. Wild Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa)-I get Silver-spotted Skippers cats on my plants. I also have various typed of trees and bushes planted for host plants for the butterflies, but you didn't mention trees on your lists so I didn't know if you don't have the room for them...so I won't mention those. Best of luck with your garden! Cathy

>but it does seem that the inlaw drama is virtually nonexistent, again, maybe b/c decision to commit is a group rather than a couple effort.>> For Asians there is a cultural difference in viewing marriage. A woman LEAVES her family and marries INTO her husband's. There is "in law" tension but it is not something you are ever going to see unless you know one of the principals very, very, very well. Asians do not display 'dirty laundry' in public; it is a serious "loss of face" for a family's reputation. One of the biggest tension points between me and my in-laws was that I am thoroughly American in attitudes and upbringing, and they were very traditionalist Asian; e.g., the social equivalent of my grandparents who emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1880's. It wasn't easy for them to accept a DIL who was a different religion and non-Chinese. I give them full kudos for doing it graciously. But as I said to a friend once, "It wouldn't break their hearts if I died in a car crash and DH married his father's goddaughter, the way they secretly wanted him to."

That seller was an ass. Okay Gabby, back to your original Q. There are any number of reasons. Some of the following are rehashes of what has already been said, but I don't feel like scrolling repeatedly up and down on my iPad. 1) What the market will bear Some plants, by virtue of uniqueness and/or popularity, get snapped up so fast that vendors will price the plants high knowing that there will be someone out there with deep pockets who will jump on it. This is very common with online platforms like "flea"bay or nurseries with wealthy clientele. In the case of eBay vendors, there is the added factor of of "auction fever". Buyers often get carried away bidding which drives the prices up to ridiculous heights. Then, too, there are some vendors who "prime" the market pump by having more than one account/store. Such vendors may price items much higher in one store than the other. Potential bargain buyers will seeing both prices go for the lower price and assume they're getting a great deal. Then there are those people who, for whatever reason, go for the higher price with the mentality that because it is more expensive it must be better. And don't dismiss the "laziness" factor. Many online shoppers are to lazy or impatient to shop around. 2) Seed grown vs. meristem (cloned) With very common, easily grown plants seeds or cuttings are typically the only ways they are produced as tissue culture is simply not worth the trouble or expense. BUT there are plants which are rare due to such things as: odd genetic mutation, low seed production/fertility, lengthy time until they reach maturity, overall slow growth, or a combination of these. Such plants are the usual candidates for meristem cloning. In this latter case, seed grown plants may be more expensive than cloned. People may be willing to pay more for the genetically unique seed grown plants -- especially if the plants are dioecious (either male or female as opposed to monoecious plants wherein flowers have both male and female parts) and the buyer wishes to breed more plants. Some plants are chimeras and can neither be grown true from seed (will not look like the parent plant(s) ), nor be cloned reliably if at all via tissue culture due to genetic instability. The only way to get more of said plant is by division. The same can be said of some plants which require some yet to be found mechanism to stimulate tissue cells to form new plants. (Many of the slipper orchids fall in this category.) Also, if said plant is a slow grower, divisions may be few and far between. Such plants can be crazy expensive due to their rarity. Plants which are highly variegated typically fall in this category. 3) Genetic instability A plant which is genetically unstable may give rise to unique pups or plantlets referred to as "sports" which cannot reliably be reproduced at all. Even buying a division of a sport does not guarantee that one will have that particular clone long term. Genetic instability can lead to that division sporting again or reverting back to the phenotype of a more common or plain ancestor. (Not at all unheard of with African violets or hosta.) 4) Variation within a clone Even in the case of a tissue cloned plant or division, the can be variations amongst the plants produced. Degree of variegation being one such affected attribute. Individuals displaying more of a particular attribute might be priced higher as a result.