It’s that time of year that most of us aren’t planting or tending our gardens.  For many of us, we’d have to dig through a foot of snow or more to even find the soil.  What are we to do for our gardens now?  Easy – plan!  Dream!  Shop!

Winter is the time that nature cleans our our yards and gardens.  Many disease pathogens either die or are washed into the soil over the months of winter.  While nature is busy, we can be too.

Planning and dreaming:

You can draw out plans for new gardens or additions to your existing garden.  Remember that a butterfly garden isn’t the goal.  Our goals should be a butterfly and pollinator habitat, across our entire yard.

When all host plants are in one place, predators have it easy.  They can stay in the same spot and find all the caterpillars.  Florida predatory stink bugs hatch out in clusters.  They don’t mind staying in one area as long as there is plenty of food.  They can kill all the caterpillars in a host plant cluster quickly.  Adults have wings and can fly.  Watch for predators and either kill them or relocate them to another area, out in the wild in nature.

Learn your predators!  Milkweed assassin bugs are so-named because of their resemblance to milkweed bugs, not because they stay on milkweed.  Last year I had hundreds in my passionvine.  They laid many clusters of eggs, hatching over a dozen young assassin bugs from each cluster.

Life becomes more difficult for predators and easier for caterpillars when host plants are planted in small clusters rather than all together in one spot.

The same is true for nectar plants.  One praying mantis in a nectar garden will have a feast.  If nectar plants are planted in smaller groups rather than all together, predators are unable to kill as many butterflies.

Again, these predators are a good balance for nature.  I don’t allow them in my garden but don’t mind them out in the fields and woods.  You can make your decision: allow to stay, kill, or relocate.

Shopping:

From websites like www.shadyoakbutterflyfarm.com to seed and plant catalogs to trading with fellow gardeners, you can buy (or trade for) plants (or seed) from many sources.

When you prefer to order from Shady Oak, you can place your order at any time and designate the date you’d like to receive your plants.  Because we grow only a few of some species of plants, pre-ordering ensures that you will receive them when you want them, even if they are shipped after someone else orders.  The pre-ordered plants are marked with the names of those who pre-ordered and will not be sold to anyone else.

So let’s read butterfly books, be active on butterfly facebook pages, do internet searches (with the full realization that some ‘facts’ on the internet are incorrect), and plan, dream, and shop!

Frog fruit is a native host plant for Phaon Crescent and Buckeye butterflies.

It is also a nectar plant for many small butterflies.

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It is a native ground cover, often found in ditches and yards.  Several species grow in the US and even into Canada.  

When added to a garden, it can become extremely aggressive.   We recommend growing it in ditches and other areas where its aggressive nature becomes an attractive addition.

In dry conditions, it lays close to the ground.  In damp conditions, it may grow to over 12″ in height.

This is a great native plant to add to your collection of butterfly host and nectar plants.  If you cannot find it locally, check out Shady Oak Butterfly Farm as a source for this plant.

It’s time to brush up on disease prevention protocols, how to recognize disease, and other disease related information.  The Disease Prevention in Lepidoptera course begins in February.

Information in this course applies to every operation from a table top rearing process (hobby and fun level) to large farms rearing thousands of butterflies each week.

As we plan to add new plants to our gardens, we should think about which plants are best for our area and the species of butterflies in our area of the world.  Just because it is native, attracts butterflies, and produces nectar doesn’t mean it is best for your garden or yard.

Think twice before choosing a new plant.  Do research.  Ask others for advice, people who may know more about the plant that you are considering for your yard.  Some native plants are better for a yard/garden than others.

One of the wild native nectar plants in our area would win your heart when you see the way butterflies flock to it.  It’s a fantastic source of nectar.  Redroot, Lachnanthes caroliniana, is a native plant that grows in wet soil.  There is just one problem: it is extremely aggressive.

Blooming only in the fall, this plant spreads rapidly and is difficult to eliminate, once it spreads.  It is great for a boggy area if you don’t mind it taking over.

When it sends up bloom spikes, it grows a fuzzy white growth at the top, often thought to be the bloom.  Instead, the blooms are yellow flowers that open in the fuzzy white top of the spikes.

Although native, we advise using extreme caution if you are considering adding this plant to your garden.  A better plant would be one that doesn’t spread so aggressively.  A  plant that blooms all season, spring through fall, is a better choice for a small yard or garden.

Although native plants are wonderful and I have many in my garden/yard, there are some natives that are not good choices for gardens/yards.

This plant would be great for a retaining pond, wet ditch in the country, or other area where it wouldn’t cause issues with its spreading nature.

Think first:

• Is it right for my yard?
• Is there a better location for the plant?
• Should I avoid it all-together?

A good native alternative for a boggy area would be Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis.  Its red blooms also attract butterflies and provide nectar to many insects.

What are your favorite native nectar plants?

Someone asked what to do about a bubble in the wing of a butterfly.  First, nothing!  Nothing, that is, until the wings are totally dry.

The bubble is full of hemolymph/blood, the same fluid it used to pump its wings full.  If a wing vein has a leak, a bubble of the fluid will form.  Once the wings dry, the bubble can be popped with no damage.  Even if wings aren’t dry, it usually doesn’t damage the wing but it is best to wait for the wings to totally dry.

Once popped, there will be little flakes of wing that break off, often leaving a hole in the wing. The hole will not damage the butterfly or its ability to fly.

It’s the time of year that the straggler caterpillars, in the more southern US, are outside and may face freezing.  Monarchs, for example, that didn’t go into diapause and migrate, may still be laying eggs if the area hasn’t had a freeze.  But once a freeze is predicted, it’s the time that many of us begin asking that question.  “How low is too cold for my caterpillars?”

First, the simple answer.  For Monarchs and those that do not go into diapause as caterpillars, if the lows are above freezing and the day temperatures are above 65-70 F (18.33-21 C), they’ll be fine.  As cold-blooded critters, if temperatures drop too low, they’ll literally freeze.  If temperatures don’t climb high enough in the day, they can’t eat and will either contract disease from their weakness and die or will die from starvation.

Next comes the question of bringing them inside when it is too cold outside.  When they emerge as adults, what if it will be too cold to release them outside?  They can be fed indoors and kept contained.  We recommend Gatorade (not low calorie) as food.  If it isn’t too cold, they can be released.

But the bigger question is this.  Should we bring them in?  That is a personal choice.  There are two basic sides to this question.

1. Some people will save every single one they can save.  They simply do not want one to die.  Period.  They are willing to do whatever it takes to keep them alive.

2. Some people worry that there may have been a genetic glitch that kept them from going into diapause and migrating.  They do not want to pass on that genetic flaw (if there is one) to their offspring to be passed on further, causing this to happen more often.  They will allow nature to make the decision about the caterpillars’ lives.

It is a personal choice.  Neither side should judge the other.  Instead, we should all be thankful for all who care about butterflies, whether we agree or not.

From us, we have two words to say to all of you who plant host plants, use less pesticides, teach others, and care about butterflies, whether we agree with your method or not.  Thank you.

It’s bad news for butterflies and moths but good news for parasitoids.  Parasitoids do not die out in the winter, no more than the butterflies and moths that are their hosts.

Tachinid flies spend the winter as first instar maggots in their hosts or as pupae inside hosts or in leaves and soil.

Braconid wasps spend the winter as larvae.

Ichneumon wasps over winter as adults.

There are many other types of parasitoids, creatures that lay eggs in, on, or near caterpillars.  The wasp larva enters the caterpillar and eats it from the inside out.  Some emerge from the butterfly caterpillar and some emerge from the butterfly chrysalis.  Their numbers thin during the winter, just as butterfly numbers dwindle in the winter. In the spring, both parasitoids and butterfly numbers increase with each generation.

They are a fact of life, playing an important part in the preservation of butterfly and moth species as a whole, even as they kill thousands of caterpillars and chrysalises each year.

Most of us understand their importance in nature but we sing the same refrain. “You will NOT live in MY yard if I can help it!”