I don't know the answer for sure, Tom, but, since there haven't been any Florida posters on this forum in a while, I'll try to help.

In my book Florida Butterfly Gardening by Minno and Minno,
they list three hosts for viceroys, first, Salix caroliniana, then S. nigra, and S. babylonica. Their picture of the host plant for viceroys shows a group of S. carolinianas, so you get the impression that's prime in Florida. You'll have a hard time finding any of it to buy, even through mail-order, native plant nurseries. I got some cuttings years ago from a man in South Carolina - it grows there, too - and rooted them successfully. Unfortunately, they didn't grow well here (the soil here is heavy, not sandy, like Florida) and I only got a few eggs on them. Since they appear to be common in Florida, your local viceroys might like them, as a matter of fact, central and south Florida viceroys are different (darker) from the rest of the country. Maybe S. caroliniana and the darker, south Florida form/Basilarchia archippus floridensis is tied in with S. caroliniana. If I were you, I'd try to find some growing roadside and take cuttings. This type willow doesn't get big, and it can be distinguished from S. nigra by the silvery white undersides of the leaves.

I couldn't make sleeves like I wanted from mesh material, so I put my potted Webb willow underneath a guy wire in my garden (goes to my husband's ham radio antenna tower), draped mesh material over it and secured the sides with paper clips and clothes pins. I know it's strange looking, but it should keep wasps out -

{{gwi:483696}}

I'm sure a Webb willow would do fine in Florida if you can't find any S. caroliniana, but you can have fun traveling back roads looking for plants!

Sherry

Quite a contraption there, Sherry. It should be effective though. Clear evidence of how dedicated you are to raising butterflies.

I looked up the S. caroliniana and it looks like it requires a swampy area. I live on a sand hill in Central Florida. I can get a lot of things to grow here, but this looks like a real challenge. Your little tree looks very healthy. Is it in the ground?

I'm going to do more research about these willows.

The tree in the picture is in a large container, Tom, but I have another one planted in the ground - the eggs are all on the one in the container.

All willows occur naturally in wet areas, like besides streams, creeks, rivers, in swamps, etc. I don't know of any willow you'll be able to grow on a sand hill without watering a lot, even then, you'd need to plant it in a depression.

Sherry