Help! Butterflys have lost their vines

10 years ago

Hello, I'm visiting from Florida Gardening, hoping you can advise me. I know very little about butterflys, but I do plant to attract them. Currently having the most ever zebra longwings swarming my nectar plants (firebush, esp.) since the constant rains in July. Meanwhile, they have lost most of their host plant -- a red passionflower vine planted about 8 years ago that had traveled up a tree on my lot line and across my neighbor's yard where it, along with a companion dutchman's pipe vine which hosted swallowtails, formed a multi-strand canopy from treetop to treetop. Neighbor finally had this vine canopy cut down in July. I can see pipe vine in my tree top, and assume there is also passion vine still there. Despite GW warnings about passion vines having numerous volunteer plants, I have never seen any. The dutchman's pipe vine of same age which has supported swallowtails for all these years has apparently just this year (how fortunate!) seeded itself under a frequently watered bush 10 yards away; its little heartshaped leaves had caterpillars in July, so I'm not so concerned about the swallowtails finding a home (maybe I should be, as I'm not noticing them about).

My questions are: My Florida butterfly book says zebras place their eggs near the tips of new growth; if the remaining vine is inadequate to support the large numbers of zebras, will the zebras find their way to the other side of my yard where I have a new passionvine down low and in only semi-sun? (Should I relocate that one to full sun or near the nectar plants?) Should I get some vines now and set them out near the original vine until I can get them planted... do the vines need to be high to attract the zebras? When during their lifetime do the zebras lay eggs and do they repeat this?

If this were cooler weather (not 90+ degrees here with high humidity 24/7) I would rush out and buy vines and restock my yard, trying several solutions. This is why I'm asking!

Thanks for any suggestions or info for better understanding these butterflys and their host plants.

Irma in St. Petersburg

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Comments (3)

Leafhead
10 years ago
A Zebra Longwing ELF will lay on any size Passionvine, near the tips of new growth. You can either bring the eggs inside and raise them or transport them to larger vines as they get older. Be on the look out for hungry cats:) Relocate them to a sunny area if possible c lots of Passion Vine.
Be careful about buying box store plants; they may be treated c pesticides.
A female Zebra Longwing can live up to 8 mos by feeding partially on pollen for egg building. They esp like Cucurbits such as Squash for pollen.
Plant lots of Lantana and Pentas in a sunny area.
Zebras love to roost at night communally. They esp seem to love Spanish Moss as a roosting spot.
It's fun to watch them collect one by one, two by two at dusk until there are twenty or more.
Try to find a garden ctr that does not use pesticides on their plants.
MissSherry
10 years ago
When I visit my daughter in Tampa, we visit a Florida Natives Nursery out in the country from Sarasota on Myakka Road. I tried to get their plant list from their web site, but when I clicked on it, it kept bringing me back to the home page. You could call them and see how well stocked they are with passionvines.

I'm surprised zebra longwings will use the red-flowering types of passionves - I thought they were toxic to ZLs as well as gulf frits.

I'm quite sure the plants at this nursery are not sprayed, nor would they likely use systemics. And they could give you some good advice about where to plant them. I'm not familiar with Florida conditions, and I've never had the pleasure of raising zebras, just gulf frits.

If this nursery is out of passionvines, you could make a trip to Mail Order Natives in Lee, Florida in the panhandle (toward the eastern part) and get P. incarnata, which I know all longwings thrive on. I'd call Amy first, though, and be sure she's got some for sale.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Natives Nursery
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Irma_StPete
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you both for your very helpful thoughts. I had not even thought of pesticides.