So If my plant is a lilac how long do you think it will take until it flowers and how long can i safely keep it in a container. I don't have anywhere to plant it. I live in an apartment building so i may be able to upgrade it's pot. C sabol

Thanks for thinking of me as the resident BC "expert." Unfortunately, the only host plant I used for raising my BCs was english plantain. That is the host that they've adapted to here in the Northeast. And it's a good thing too because the high deer population has really decimated the wild turtlehead. Funny that this topic should come up. Saturday I went up scope out the place where I originally saw the Baltimore colony in 2006. I saw plenty of plantain, but no evidence of caterpillars. I hope I just missed them, but in 2006, there were nests literally everywhere. I went there with a student of Dave Wagner who's doing her thesis on Baltimore Checkerspots and their parasitism rates. She's trying to learn if their choice of host plant affords them some defense against predation and parasitism. Unfortunately, we found no caterpillars, but we'll keep in touch and I learned a lot of interesting info from a very smart young lady. Mona Miller from the Baltimore area has done a lot of work hoping to repopulate them there. Chelone does like moisture but plantain will grow in dry areas. This has helped somewhat to spead the range of BCs to dryer areas. Maryann

Yes, the narrow leaved Plantain that grows as a lawn weed up here seems to be a great host plant for the Baltimores in the area. However, just because you have the plant doesn't mean you'll get the butterfly. They seem to prefer open areas with some source of water, be in a marsh, poorly drained field, or adjacent pond. Perhaps because this is where the original host, turtlehead, is typically found. The use of Plantain as a host plant here in CT, could lead to the Baltimores expanding their range. My baltimore caterpillars fed readily on English plantain and Turtlehead, "Hot Lips." Although they overwintered last year and pupated and eclosed normally, I have yet to see evidence of a new generation, ie, eggs, cats or nest, in my yard this summer. Maryann

The non-Jade looks like a Haworthia. The Jade plant is a small-leafed (aka compact) Jade. It could be Crosby's Compact. Josh