If you have skippers, you can add cannas that is a host plan for them.... they will shred the leaves. I have lots of canna, It spreads by rhizomes.... but I give it to friends. Also, I grew up in the midwest and my parents a mock orange bush. It was not a host plant, but a nectar plant. It would attract all kids of butterflies... I use to say they were having butterfly wars... I guess they were territorial.... but we had red admirals growing up.... There host is the mulberry tree. Every once in a great blue moon I see one here in Florida. I have nothing for them to eat. Growing up we had Tiger and Zebra swallowtails and monarch. We did not have a butterfly garden. But we must have had host plants around somewhere... never noticed any caterpillars, but that mock orange must have called out to every butterfly in the county...

I am heading to Butterfly World tomorrow to get a wild lime to be a host plant for my Giant Swallowtails..... I have to spray my lemon tree to keep chili thrips away..... grrr. they totally defoliate the plant so I am getting the butterflies something they can lay eggs on that doesn't mind the CTs.

Canna? I've never heard of that plant. Can you post a pic?

I didn't know that Canna was a butterfly host plant. Of course I don't live in Southern Florida and Texas where this Brazilian Canna Skipper occurs.

Jay, I have the canna leafrollers in my yard, so Mars probably has them around. My mother in law loves cannas, so I got them as a gift from her 20+ years ago. I was never a big fan, they are just a Japanese beetle magnet, so I wanted to rip them out a few years ago. Found some big leaf pockets. Usually see the cats only at night or on rainy days.

Mars, you can also plant some Rue for the Giant Swallowtails. What do you have against hornworms on your tomatoes? They make a beautiful moth that’s a lot of fun to watch.

HMMM.... I haven't had any Japanese Beetles on mine.... probably because they are too busy destroying my hollyhocks..... but as I said the hollyhocks don't do to well here...

Sharon, I have given up on hollyhocks. They didn’t have a chance against the deer. So the Japanese beetles are at the canna, followed by hibiscus and evening primrose.

I grew cannas years ago. The Brazilian Skippers aren't up here and no bugs up here would eat them.

Jay, I like how the caterpillar looks like. Its very unique. Its transparent.

The adult form of it resembles a long-tailed-skipper.

Iris, I didn't know Rue was also a host for the Black Swallowtails.

What i have against the hornworms is that they eat the tomatoes to fast. They are eating machines.

If the tomato plant is young and not to tall and leafy, the hornworms would destroy it.

This year i'm planning to plant a lot of squash, zucchini, and maybe pumpkin. If the squash borers come, how do i deal with them? I want to deal with them organically so that i'll have some organic fruit. I also ordered the fennel.

@Mars SC Zone 8b Mars I agree with you on hornworms. They're brutal. In a day they could destroy any nightshade. When I lived in Arizona they'd chow down on tomato, eggplant and pepper plants with vigor. During "horn worm season" it was necessary to inspect all nightshades every morning and evening and with scissors in hand. I would cut each worm in half because it was impossible to pull them off the plants (and they would try to bite my fingers! ). If I didn't kill them all, my plants would be destroyed beyond recovery. 😔

@librarian_gardner_8b_pnw The hornworms didn't attack my pepper plants though. I raise caterpillars as a hobby and i would never want to raise those monsters. If my tomato plants aren't big, they would be dead...

The adult is pretty though. What type of hornworm ate your eggplant? I'm planted some eggplant seedlings.

@Mars SC Zone 8b Mars some varieties of squash have solid stems and so they do not have issues with borders. You could look into that maybe.

There is a italian zucchini that the squash borer doesn't attack.

A while back, after losing many zucs to the borer, I started growing the tromboncino variety and that solved the issue. And keeping the vines off the ground helps with diseases in general. But one needs to invest in a serious trellis -- it's a huge, vigorous plant.

It makes a great ornamental plant around patios, on pergolas, etc. instead of the usual annual vines.

(not my pic)

I think that's the one i'm planting.

Green Stripped Cushaw and Butternut squash have solid vine borer proof stems.

Steve

Yeah, my butternut squash plants have only gotten attacked by a squash borer once.

@Mars SC Zone 8b Mars I think it was what everyone calls the tomato horn worm. Eggplants were perennials that were winter deciduous for me in Arizona. So every spring the plants would come back quickly and the plants were beautiful and producing until frost. Without fail, hornworms would attack the tomatoes and eggplants every year. The peppers that got attacked were sweet. May hot chiles are too spicy?

They are pretty cool looking caterpillars. Just so hungry!

I've been in the PNW for 9 years so that seems like a distant memory.

The agastache/anise hyssop in my garden are all butterfly and pollinator magnets. Also nepeta/catmint. Both of these have fragrant foliage which may make them deer resistant. Not sure about rabbits. They both like lots of sun, so don't usually have a problem with slugs in the sunnier areas.

-Chris

Hawk moth on my violet trumpet vine. It’s wingspan was about 3”.

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Evan

I went to Butterfly World in Pompano Florida to get some more host plants. I would have loved to walk through their garden to see the butterflies and plants.... but I AM NOT going to do that until we do not have to wear a mask.... it almost kills me to wear one just to go inside a store for twenty minutes.... oh well.... hopefully it will be soon.

Anyway I picked up a Wild Lime for the giant swallowtails, a fragrant passifloria 'Inspiration' for Zebra Longwings, and a purple possum passionflower f for the Gulf Fritillary (fruit for me),

@sharon2079 i totally agree with you. Entering gardening stores and wearing a mask is horrible.

evdesert's hawk moth looks like a white-lined sphinx, a common species that occurs throughout much of the US. The caterpillars are variable in color and eat a wide range plants.

@evdesert 9B Indio, CA what a beautiful moth!

I have lots of Hummingbird/Hawk Moths here. They eat my brugmansia. I just move them from my good/more rare varieties to the more common ones lol. I love to watch the moths when they show up. They go nuts go nuts for our night blooming jasmine too.

I was wondering how they got out of these really xtra long trumpet flowers I have that are over a foot deep. So one night, I went out with my camera and flashlight. They would back out with such force they would almost hit the ground and then propel themselves back into another deep blossom..basically bouncing around. It was amazing and quite comical.

Brugmansia and Hawk moth

Nice @sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida 9a)!

So the hawkmoth eats that flower?

No it sips the nectar and pollinates it.

The caterpillars eat it. It is in the Solanaceae family along with other nightshade plants sucha as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants etc.

Brugmansia leaves are poisonous/toxic to humans and some animals.

Many caterpillars like to eat poisonous or toxic plants to make themselves less appetizing to their predators.

Some of my Brugmansias

Jojo, I bought some Tromboncino seeds this fall. I am planting them now. Do they tast just like zucchini or is there a difference?

Tromboncino tastes like zucchini -- mild and sweet. The added bonus is that the seeds are only in the bulbous tip -- the neck is just "meat." But you still have to be vigilant to pick them when they're young because the size can be a bit overwhelming. Better warn your friends and neighbors that they will be getting a lot of zucchini this summer!

I'm planting Tromboncino this year.

To me tromboncino is more like Indian edible gourds. I can have zucchini uncooked not tromboncino. Closely related is zucchetta that grow more or less straight and uniform in thickness. When about 12-18 inches they are quite soft like zucchini. But they can grow to well over 3 ft. At that stage it is quite tasty - less sweet and tad bit sour when cooked. My favorite is cooking with seafood. The longest zucchetta I grew was a tad bit shorter than 5ft !! Good thing about these are they are pretty much resistant to a whole bunch of pests and carefree in our area.

Got tired of growing these giants so gave it a break a few years back. Plus I consistently fail growing anything from regular cucumber family. The pests just decimate them. For the last few years we have been growing Achocha - peruvian cucumber. Tastes like cucumber but small about 2 inches or so. Produces profusely and again extremely resistant to cucurbit pests. Very tasty when young but matures to a seedy vegetable in a matter of days. It is still edible when mature but is better cooked then.

5ft?! That's big. What are some tasty dishes with tromboncino?

I do not know how italians use it. But being from India (and from a seafood/fish region) we adapted seafood dishes using gourds/squashes. Basically they are all like this: Dice into small pieces (less than an inch) and saute that with spices till they are a bit softer. Grated coconut will add some oomph too. Add sauteed seafood and mix well. Simmer till the vege is all soft. Serve. For variations on this you can experiment with mustard sauce, lime leaves, lime juice, peanuts, cilantro, etc. The tromboncino will absorb all the flavors and be quite yummy. You can do the same with zucchini, butternut squash, and even those overgrown cucumbers. Makes great summer dish.

Forgot to mention my other favorite dish. Use a "Vegetti" like device and turn them into noodles and go to town with it. Awesome.

Here is a pic of zucchetta on our 7 ft long dining table. These are not quite 5ft but you get the idea. These are still soft and young with very immature seeds.

I like zucchini noodles.

I love making "noodles" from veggies. If I get too many zucchini I can feed them to the farm animals lol. Our Kunekune literally come back to my veggie garden to beg when I'm in there harvesting lol.

Those pigs are pretty! Definitely not the type I normally see. I wish i saw pigs like that more often.

Lovely pig - never seen such a kind before. It is variegated - lol.

They are a New Zealand breed that has long fur and wattles. They can be pets but are primarily raised for a superior pork that is as red as beef! They graze grass like a cow and don't challenge our fences. They like you to scratch and pet them. When you scratch their shoulder they tip over so you can scratch their bellies. They do get quite large.

Best of all, they pick one corner of their pen to go to the bathroom in so its very easy to clean up after them and put it in a compost pile. Their manure is more like cow etc due to they only get grass, alfalfa hay, and veggies and sometimes fruit etc. (No meat products) They do love milk though. They also love banana leaves.

We got a male & female last spring so we have a breeding pair.

This was them when we first got them. They are quite a bit bigger now lol!

These are some adorable pigs!

The zucchetta are something else. Never seen them before.

Thank you :)

I have lots of different plants for butterflies & bees. Their favorite by far, was totally free..Spanish Needles (Bidens alba)!

We have these weeds on different parts of the property. Some days I go out there and there will be up to 7 different varieties of butterflies and several kinds of bees working these flowers! They are just ecstatic for it.

I dont like the spiky seed pods that get everywhere in the fall but since the critters are so crazy about them (especially the honeybees) I have learned to live with them.

If you have Baltimore checkerspot in your area, chelone glabra (turtlehead) is their preferred hostplant (is this one word or two I can't remember...). I think they prefer the white flowering version, but but 100% sure.

I planted the Fennel.

Also i bought some anise hyssops. Do any caterpillars eat it?

My tall garden phlox and zinnias are butterfly magnets. I love watching them flutter from bloom to bloom.

Hummingbird Moth

And a poodle....heehee

Wonderful!

The first pic is a monarch, right?

Yes, it's a monarch butterfly. Don't you just love those polka dots on her?

What plant is the monarch on?

The monarch is on a zinnia. They're butterfly magnets.

I love zinnias!

Last year they attracted a few monarchs, a ton a skippers, some random moths, a yellow butterfly, and some gulf frits.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida 9a) have you ever butchered🥩🍗🍖 one of those pigs🐷?

I'm guessing they taste good😋. They are very cute!

I have Verbena bonariensis in my daughter's butterfly//Bee/Hummingbird garden and it attracts a wide variety of butterflies. You could also plant carrots, as some species like to munch on the leaves. Also, cone flowers are good and I finally have some growing this year.

Phlomis Tuberous is another plant I have and it also attracts a lot of butterflies and gives them cover.

Lantana,Joe pye weed would be good choices.

As for trees I want to get some Pawpaw trees since this is the host plant for the zebra swallowtail caterpillars which I find attractive.

Remember, they also need somewhere to pupate that is safe and secure from wind ,rain and predators.