That's so weird, MissSherry, I've lost 2 successive plantings of P. caerulea, but was able to maintain my P. 'Lavendar Lady' since approx. 1999. I have no idea why. Anyway, the two years I had the P. caerulea, the GFs ate it first, before they started on the 'Lavendar Lady'. Sylvia, if you are planting for "attractiveness", I think all of the Passion Vines have very pretty foliage, and even prettier flowers. For me, the foliage is bothered little by pests, so it remains fresh looking all the time. There are some Passifloras with prettier flowers, like the 'Lavendar Lady' I mentioned. Much prettier flowers than the incarnata, altho it has pretty flowers, too. It would be hardy in your zone 7b - I am in 7a. The only drawback to 'Lavendar Lady' is that it will not be a host for the Variegated Fritillary, just the Gulf Fritillary, while the P. incarnata hosts both as Sandy said. Lisa, I'm glad that some of your Passi's came back. The 'Lavendar Lady' did not show up until late July, when I had absolutely no hope it would return after the winter we had. That's why I went ahead and purchased the incarnata. I have had GFs in the yard, just very, very few egg layers. In fact, I have only managed to save ONE little caterpillar, and I don't know if it will make it. It is growing very, very slowly. I have had Monarchs out the gazoo, Lisa. I still have some Monarch cats if you want to come by tomorrow evening, I would be happy to share 3 or 4 with you so you can at least see them pupate. I've had my share. I can also give you some seeds of the Calatropis gigantea to grow next year, if you'd like. Gorgeous plant; Monarchs love it. Did I give you an Amorpha fruticosa and a Button Bush? I have those, too, if you want. A. fruticosa for the Sulphurs, and Button Bush for nectar, and possibly for Cecropias. Do you also have Wild Indigo? I have tons of little Wild Indigo Duskywings on mine right now, and they will be overwintering as cats to come out next spring with the new growth. Very fun to observe. It took no time at all for them to find my plant! They found it the same year I planted it. Kellybird - it's so strange how the butterflies prefer certain species in one region, and another elsewhere, isn't it? Sad day today - my little companion spider, Charlotte, the Argiope aurantis, spider, died. She left me 3 big egg sacs, though, and hopefully I will get to experience her progeny next year. Kenna will be sad, too, cuz we've been feeding her this summer, and Kenna is in love with her. We have a hard time dealing with our animal losses. We have already lost Lady George, a stray female adopted as an outdoor kitty cat, and then, Wild Kitty, another outdoor adopted kitty. One from unknown causes and the other by hit and run. They were the only females in the neighborhood. Lady George left behind 4 babies that we nurtured and sent off to forever homes. Sigh....life goes on. Susan

I'm sorry! Lol i forgot I posted about the other! Too much on my mind! I discovered that our County sprays the county road sides with weed/plant killer every year for some reason to keep the power lines clear and to prevent invasive species at bay supposedly! They have done this within the last few weeks and I can see a lot of the plant life die off now. My husband is a forester and I went with him to a job site in the woods yesterday. He explained all of it to me. He said it's not a very good plan. A lot of invasive plants get immune to the spray but a lot of your endangered or threatened type natives it ends up hurting. This morning I have several small caterpillar that are acting sick on the bottom of my habitat. So I'm thinking it has to be that spray! I take very good care of any caterpillar that I try to raise. I wash any plants I bring in.. I clean their cage twice a day etc.. this makes me very sad!

Sherry, will describe this better, but when I see a bright blue on the top of the wings when fully extended it is a male. Females are more of a dull metallic blue. I can tell that they are Pipevines by their flight patterns, which is generally very fast and erratic. They seldom stay on a flower for any period of time. Every once and a while I will see them stay on a flower or branch for a while in the morning when they are drying out their wings. Also, they are smaller than most other swallowtails.

That’s wonderful! Congratulations! A bit jealous of both the butterflies and the rain :)