I have been seeing these butterflies, too for the past couple of weeks, and hadn't seen any last year. I had missed them greatly since I'd had quite a population on my maypop in the Houston area, but hadn't seen any since the move to Arkansas almost two years ago. I am so happy they are here now. The larvae are eating some sort of native passionvine that I'd never known even existed until I moved into this house. The vine has small flowers not near as wowing as the maypop or any other passiflora, and I'd been removing some of it, thinking it was weedy. Now that I see what I think are the gulf frits on it, I am valuing it much more and will not remove as much of it as I had, although it is all over the yard and needs to be controlled. Got another start of the much prettier maypop here, now, too. I thought I was getting the butterflies because I am not spraying the yard with any herbicide or pesticide at all while the previous owners probably were, but maybe they're just up in this area this year and weren't last year.

We are just now having butterflies; up to this point, we have seen very few. They are mostly Black Swallowtails and what I think are Pipevine Swallowtails.

Thanks, Christie, for that website. The pictures are sure better than my butterfly book which is just artist drawings.

I have the native passion vine all over the farm. I think I will try to move one down to the yard. I didn't know they attracted anything.

I started native passion vine (passiflora incarnata) three or four years ago along the edge of my yard. I put it at the base of a shrub but I'm not sure that was a good idea. It over powers it. I don't think it will kill the shrub. It just looks heavy. I find suckers coming up several feet from the rest of the plant and pull them up. It's not so bad that I plan to get rid of it but would say a person needs to be very careful where they plant it. The flowers are pretty but it doesn't flower very heavily for me. I just grow it for the caterpillars to have something to eat.

Gld - I don't think I've ever seen a Pipevine Swallowtail. I tried to grow pipevine last year and it died in the late summer heat. I don't remember what kind it was. Maybe there's one that is more used to our climate. Do you have some in your yard?

The Black Swallowtails finally found my bronze fennel. I counted 23 caterpillars on one plant this week. Last year they liked my rue the better but I haven't seen as many on it this year.
Pinkspoonbill - Welcome! I don't know what your small flowered passiflora might be but maybe someone else will. I think p. incarnata is about the only one that will winter over for me here in SW Missouri. Are you farther south?

Yes, I am in central Arkansas, zone 7. The small flowered passionflower is disappointing compared to incarnata, so I wouldn't recommend it, and it is just as vigorous and rampant as maypop, passiflora incarnata. The flowers on this passionvine are probably less than a quarter of the size of incarnata, maybe an inch or less in diameter. After the flowers, fruit appears that is green, then darkens to purple. The fruit is maybe as big as my little fingernail, much smaller than incarnata fruit. The gulf frit caterpillars seem to like this passionvine, though. If you are planting for the little guys, I would definitely recommend incarnata b/c it is much prettier. That bloomed well for me in Houston area, but if yours isn't blooming well, try moving it to the sun if it is in shade. I think the caterpillars will like it better in sun than in shade, too. If it still doesn't flower there, than maybe this smaller one flowers more heavily, because I do get flowers on this one, albeit small and not as showy. You can certainly see the relationship, though, to incarnata in leaf and flower form and shape. As far as any other passionvines hardy to your area, I wouldn't be surprised if there were one or two others. I brought a bluish one with me from Houston I got in a trade and left one in the ground and one in a pot to see if it would come back and it did reemerge from the ground following last winter. However, it is a very small plant in the ground and not thriving, even after months of summer. Not sure if it's the zone or something else. The one in the pot is doing much, much better. Not sure the name of the vine either, but it is definitely different from the maypop I had and have introduced to my new yard. It will be interesting to see the behavior of the incarnata in this zone after seeing so many flowers and some fruit in Houston. I gave a piece of this to my family in PA and I don't think theirs ever fruited, although it is now spreading and popping up in different places in the yard. Maybe it needs to be a certain age before if flowers heavily and fruits, and it does flower a whole, whole lot better in full sun. Thank you for the welcome, too. This is the first time or one of the first times I've posted to this forum.

Welcome pink,glad you're here. I wish i knew more about butterflies as i have a lot come to my flowers. Guess i could learn. There's enough info on line. The pictures were so pretty.
vickie

Welcome pinkspoonbill. The passion vine growing here is incarnata. There was one area I brush hogged that it covered the entire area on the ground. Another place it grows very neatly on the fence and the fruit hangs down where you can see it. I thought maybe on a fence would be a good idea. I know you have to be careful about digging up natives and cultivating them. I have a couple of wildflowers that may have to be eradicated....they spread by runners....not a good thing.

Christie, I am guessing about the butterfly and no, I don't have pipe vine anywhere. They were all over the phlox. I will try to get a picture.

I had a very small sweet cicely plant and the larva of black swallowtail ate it to the soil, just left a small stump. I was glad to see a sprout on it yesterday. I hope it survives.