Most of my experience with butterflies has been with hand-rearing monarchs. Air temperature is important to successful development. I believe the pertinent research was done in Toronto, Canada, a few years ago. They determined that the optimum temperature for monarch development to be 81 degrees F. In my experience, these butterflies/caterpillars/chrysalids will do fine in the range of 70 to 90 degrees F, and they will do OK in the range of 60 to 100 degrees F. Development really slows down when the air temp drops to 60 degrees F. When hand-rearing monarch cats & chrysalids, in a cage on our (unheated) back porch, I use heat lamps to keep the temperature above 60 if we get a cold snap in late August/early September. With regard to other species, I believe that some of them do overwinter as chrysalids. For example, several years ago I was visiting the upper peninsula of Michigan, at Copper Harbor, and saw a mourning cloak butterfly in early June. With the growing season just getting under way, I don't see how that particular butterfly could have hatched from an egg and developed into an adult that early in the year. I suspect that it overwintered as a chrysalis, and emerged in the late spring.

Hi again everyone ! Thanks so much for being willing to trade other than at the swap. I thought I would list some stuff that I have to trade so that the above traders could pick what they want and I can get it potted up for them . Here is my list: regular and cherrypink lungwort candy necklace iris forget me nots small divisions of Brunnera " Jack Frost" mini purple iris yellow with purple iris violets - purple, white with purple ,and violet "freckles" white with purple polkadots ladybells ( can be invasive) Chinese lanterns (can be invasive) Dame's Rocket ( great butterfly attractor) Centaurea montana Centaurea Dealbata couple of small divisions of yellow primrose 1 large agapanthus 1 very small agapanthus 1 fuschia ( tropical) Double feverfew Golden feverfew (small divisions) HOSTAS small division of "Twist of Lime" (this is a real mini) August Moon Paul's Glory lancifolia ( great edger hosta .increases really well unknown varigated ( again increases well) Small division of Stilleto Daylilies : Rocket City Siloam Uri Winniford Little Winecup Bradley Bernard 1 df division of Bonanza 1 df division of Aquamarine unknown name red daylily Schoolbus yellow daylily sold to me as Fulva Tawny but is not but I keep it as it is a gorgeous daylily (bagel type of daylily) Ground covers : Goutweed ( good for very dry shady or sun location where nothing else will grow ) creeping buttercup Creeping Jenny couple of types of sedum Ajuga "Chocolate chip" bulbs: Snowdrops Star of Bethlehem Poet's Narcissus ( heavenly smell ...blooms now ) Lots of other stuff but cant think of it as I type . If you are looking for something let me know I might have some Signet

I have bought from them befor. Good people. Here is a link that might be useful: Check out these people. They have trees that are able to grow in extreme cold climates.

I live in Winona, the South-Eastern end of Hamilton. I had two Windmill Palms for a few years. They are typically hardy to -12F. I kept mine in pots where they grew to a height of about 3 feet. The reason for the pots was that I could easily put them in the garage on cold windy days to avoid the wind "burning" the fronds. Unfortunately, I left for a two week winter vacation one year, and put them in the house to be safe. A mold had broken out on the soil while I was away that ended up killing both Palms. I plan to replace them soon. You can purchase Windmill Palms in most of the nurseries from Vineland to Niagara-on-The-Lake. They will run you anywhere $50.00 for very small plants to several hundred dollars for the larger ones. My next experiment is a hardy Orange that grows in Zone 5 and above. The fruit is apparently large but bitter. To the Virginian; Niagara-on-The-Lake is very much Zone 7. It is the heart of the grape country and is home to transplants such as Hardy Kiwi's, Bamboo, Southern Magnolia, Papaws, Forest Pansy Redbud and the occasional Myrtle. There is even one area with native flowering Maples; these tend to have large green flowers with orange centres that bloom in Spring. It a micro-climate for certain.