I love seeing them and have been having quite a few lately flying around my hamelia patens bush.

Happy Gardening Katkin ~ FlowerLady

I saw one yesterday, too. So far there has been a Monarch, some Gulf Fritillaries, Zebra Swallowtails, Buckeyes, a few Sulphurs. I have yet to see any of the Black Swallowtails with the beautiful blue on the back wings and they are usually the first ones out and very numerous around here. And OMG - that plant is gorgeous! I've never seen one, is it strictly tropical??

Rita, I have a bunch of Hamelia Patens here in Central Florida, zone 9B. They are great plants for hummingbirds and the Zebra Longwings and Sulphurs love them also.

A caution: once you plant one it will grow very large and will be extremely difficult to remove. I have some that are about 15 feet now. There are different types. I have the standard and the "dwarf" which grows to be over ten feet tall. The tops will freeze, but the base recovers from a hard freeze.

I have Monarchs, Fritillaries, Gold Wings (Polydamas), Sulphurs now and see passing Tigers and Giants from time to time. I have had at least one visit from an Eastern Black; she left a caterpillar on one of my fennels.

There should be a lot more butterflies now that the warm weather has arrived.

I am so dense - I looked up that plant name and it's a Firebush, which I have one - DUH! But I guess the closeup photo is what did the job, I've noticed the blooms on it but I don't remember them being that gorgeous - I'll have to look more closely now. And yes, it is getting tall - the leaves at the base are out fully, then it gradually has less and less leaves further out the branches until they are still bare. Maybe I need to prune this thing back now?? But I've had it for a couple of years now and the freezes always take them way back - and I have so many different flowering plants that the butterflies and hummingbirds love that I rarely see them go to that plant.

Unfortunately my H. patens bushes got hit by frost and taken back almost to the roots. They are on the rebound now, but haven't started blooming yet. I can't wait til they do and start bringing in the Zebra Longwings. That species seems most interested in H. patens and almost dines on it exclusively, though they do sometimes go to the pentas and salvias.

Many years ago I planted a few Passiflora suberosa, sometimes called cork-stem passionvine. This vine has since come up all over my garden--without being terribly invasive. The Zebras love this vine and will lay eggs on it, especially if it is in the shade. In the sun the Gulf Fritillaries will use it as a larval food.

With the mild winters lately I have had the Zebra Longwings pretty much every month. In July and August they are very plentiful. I think in southern Florida the suberosa will attract Julias also.

The birds eat the berries and spread the vine around the neighborhood. This adds to the total amount of butterflies in the environment. Hopefully the neighbors don't find it to be too bothersome.