editor's notes
Having recently returned from the 13th Biennial Member’s Meeting in Tallahassee, FL, I can report that the enthusiasm of NABA members for butterfly watching burns bright as the Florida sun. After braving sauna-like heat and humidity each day, members came back from the field rejuvinated rather than exhausted (or dehydrated)! Spending time with like-minded folk is a joy that energizes the soul.
Such partnering may be virtual rather than physical. A year ago Mary Anne Borge joined Butterfly Gardener as an Associate Editor, and her own butterfly passions and opinions have charted new direction for the magazine. I am grateful for her experience and expertise, as well as her eagerness to search out new articles and contacts. Contact her if you have an idea for an article! She is at borge@naba.org
Allison Snopek Barta’s article in this issue was submitted with two great photos of her NABA certified garden signs. Adding signs or artwork to your garden to let people know that you are gardening to promote butterflies and their habitat is another way to promote NABA’s mission--to start conversations, educate others, and find people near you that share your passion for butterflies.
Butterfly Gardener is published quarterly by the North American Butterfly Association, Inc. (NABA). © 2018 by the North American Butterfly Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of NABA.
Editor: Jane Hurwitz
Associate Editor: Mary Anne Borge
We want to hear from you! Please send Butterfly Gardener correspondence and submissions to: Jane Hurwitz, Editor, NABA, 4 Delaware Road, Morristown, NJ 07960; hurwitz@naba.org
Articles, gardening tips and observations, artwork, digital high resolution photographs, poetry and comments will be considered for publication. Please send self-addressed stamped envelope for items to be returned.
Advertising
Butterfly Gardener welcomes advertising. Please write us at: Butterfly Gardener, 4 Delaware Road, Morristown, NJ 07960, or telephone (973) 285-0907 or fax (973) 285-0936 for current rates and closing dates.
Membership Services
—Jane Hurwitz, Editor
For questions concerning membership issues, magazines, or changes of address, please write to NABA Membership Services, 4 Delaware Road, Morristown, NJ 07960. Occasionally, members send membership dues in twice. Our policy in such cases, unless instructed otherwise, is to extend membership for an additional year.
NABA is a not-for-profit organization formed to educate the public about the joys of nonconsumptive, recreational butterflying including listing, gardening, observation, photography, rearing, and conservation. Membership in NABA is open to all who share our purpose.
Volume 23, Issue 3 Fall 2018
Build It and They Will Come by Allison Snopek Barta
Front cover photo: Giant Swallowtail. Credit: Jennifer Lamkin. Opposite page photo: John Lampkin and friends home in on a Hackberry Emperor at the NABA Biennial Members’ Meeting in Tallahassee, FL. Credit: Jane Hurwitz
This page photo: Allison Snopek Barta’s Minnesota flower garden. Credit: Allison Snopek Barta
Back cover photo: Contributor Allison Snopek Barta in her garden (with photobombing Cabbage White) Credit: Kevin Barta. 4 Raising Caterpillars: A Photo Essay by Jennifer Lamkin 8 Wanted Alive in Your Garden: Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar by Jan Dixon
Raising Caterpillars: A Photo Essay
Text and photos by Jennifer Lamkin
I have always been passionate about gardening and playing in the dirt is my happy place. I enjoy growing beautiful plants and being surrounded by flowers and gorgeous butterflies. My interest in raising butterflies began two years ago–I raised and released more than 200 Monarchs during the summer of 2017. This year I added Black and Giant Swallowtails to my list by growing and planting their caterpillar food plants. Growing plants from seed guarantees that the caterpillar food will be free from pesticides and healthy for the caterpillars. And raising plants during the winter month allows me to play in the dirt when there's snow outside!
In addition to growing all my caterpillar food plants from seeds, I use no pesticides on my property. At left is my winter growing station in my basement. I start plants under grow lights in February and March.
For Monarchs, I primarily grow milkweeds that are native to Missouri, such as Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata), Butterfly Milkweed (A. tuberosa), and Whorled Milkweed (A.verticillata).
I keep the various caterpillar species in separate enclosures (photo above). Monarchs are housed with Monarchs, Black Swallowtails with Black Swallowtails, etc. I also separate the caterpillars by instars with first and second instars in one enclosure and third through fifth instars in another. Once a chrysalis is hardened and dry, I move it out of the caterpillar enclosure.
My supplies (photo below) include clean mesh pop-up enclosures, floral tubes for keeping small cuttings of caterpillar food plants fresh, 2-oz and 5-oz condiment cups with lids to keep eggs in until they hatch, and paper towels for lining the bottom of mesh enclosures for easy cleaning. I also keep bleach on hand for sanitizing enclosures and all supplies in between batches of caterpillars. A variety of glass jars and vases are on hand to hold large bouquets of caterpillar food plants for feeding caterpillars in an upright position so frass falls downward away from the plants. I also use a tiny paintbrush for moving early-instar caterpillars and a camera for documenting the entire process.
Top photo: Giant Swallowtail caterpillars in large enclosure on Common Rue cuttings. Middle photo: Closeup of Giant Swallowtail caterpillars on Common Rue. Bottom photo: Giant Swallowtail egg and newly emerged caterpillar.
To feed Giant Swallowtail caterpillars, I grow Common Rue (Ruta graveolens) and Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata), as well as other plants in the Rue Family.
To feed Black Swallowtail caterpillars, I grow Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), Parsley (Petroselinum crispum–shown in left photo), Dill (Anethum graveolens), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), and Common Rue.
Photo below: Black Swallowtail caterpillars feeding on Parsley.
Jennifer Lamkin lives in NW Missouri and hopes to add even more butterfly species to her list of home raised caterpillars.
Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar
Text and Photos by Jan Dixon
Known Food Preferences:
Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) and Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) are two of the preferred caterpillar food plants. The caterpillars fare better on Northern Spicebush than on Sassafras, which has extensive fine hairs on the leaves that slow their growth.
Known disguises: The first three instars of the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar resemble bird droppings— they sport a shiny green to chocolate-brown color with black eyespots on the thorax and a white spiracular stripe that may be absent but, more commonly, is enlarged to form a saddle. Early instars rest hidden in a foldedover leaf shelter. Later instars mimic snakes, with large eyespots prominently displayed on the upper thorax. The caterpillars eat only at night, remaining concealed their leaf shelters during the day. The snake-mimic instars rest with the head up in the shelter so that any predator searching for a meal will see the only anterior “snake head,” and maybe think twice about reaching in there. Just before this caterpillar pupates, it turns yellow/orange and appears to shrink in size.
Special weaponry: As if its bird-dropping and snake mimicry were not enough, the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar is also equipped with an osmeterium. This fleshy, forked organ can be everted like a tongue from the joint between the head and the prothoracic segment to further enhance the snake-mimicry effect. In addition, the mixture of volatile organic acids that is projected from the osmeterium when the caterpillar is startled has a foul odor that may deter mammalian predators, and chemical components that have been demonstrated to repel spiders, ants, and small mantids.
Winter hide-out: The caterpillar will form a chrysalis, usually on the host plant. The short photoperiod results in a brown winter chrysalis.
If capture is avoided: Spicebush Swallowtail adults will emerge in the area extending from central New England south to Florida and west to eastern Nebraska and central Texas. Two overlapping broods occur in the north, from May through September; three in much of the south, from April through October; and three in Florida and the far south from March thru December.
Jan Dixon enjoys observing caterpillars, almost as much as adult butterflies, and has raised ten species from her gardens. She volunteers as a butterfly monitor at the Nature Conservancy's Kitty Todd Preserve in Northwest Ohio and is on the board of the Oak Openings Region Wild Ones chapter. She also enjoys teaching about butterfly gardening.
Build It and They Will Come
Text and photos by Allison Snopek Barta
When I think of the catchphrase “Build it and they will come”, I remember a family summer trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where my Uncle Donny and Aunt Pat took my three sons and me to see the “Field of Dreams” movie house and the famous baseball diamond up against the fields of corn. Now those words have come alive for me right in our yard, in Cass Lake, Minnesota, as the flower garden I built has attracted an amazing 41 species of butterflies, skippers, and moths from 2016-2018.
Day after day as I planted, weeded, transplanted, dead-headed, and watered, I was rewarded with numerous opportunities to photograph and video many different species. Some of my documented garden visitors include: Black Swallowtail, Canadian Swallowtail, Mustard White (spring and summer forms), Cabbage White, Clouded Sulphur, Orange Sulphur, Banded Hairstreak, Spring and ‘Summer’ Azures, Silvery Blue, Variegated Fritillary, Atlantis Fritillary, Silver-bordered Fritillary, Silvery Checkerspot, Northern Crescent, Eastern Comma, Green Comma, Gray Comma, Compton Tortoiseshell, Milbert’s Tortoiseshell, American Lady, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Common Buckeye, White Admiral, Viceroy, Little Wood-Satyr, Monarch, as well as many skippers.
Photo above oppostie: Canadian Swallowtail
Photo opposite: Spring Azure
Photo above: Silvery Checkerspot.
I thought that in 2016, having a Gulf Fritillary land in my yard and stay overnight for photos and video was like the crown jewel of my butterfly observations (it is an uncommon sighting in the northern states, and may very well be the northernmost record for Gulf Fritillary), until this summer, when after more than 13 years of building this garden, an American Copper visited for a few minutes. I visited the “Field of Dreams” but Kevin Costner may never come to see my garden—which would have been another dream come true—but I will never forget the thrills I continue to have building and watching my garden. Enjoy my photos!
Photo above: Gulf Fritillary
Photo right: American Copper
Opposite page:
Top photo: Arctic Skipper
Middle photo: Monarchs
Bottom photo: Silver-bordered Fritillary
Allison Snopek Barta is a lifelong advocate of butterflies. She has been recording her Minnesota butterfly observations for many years and has compiled her sightings into a presentation titled On the Hunt for the North Woods Butterflies. She hopes to publish her photos and observations after finding and photographing just two more species (Olympia Marble, and Red-disked Alpine), which will bring her total observations to 90 species for northern Minnesota.
For the Love of Butterflies
Please photocopy this membership application form and pass it along to friends and acquaintances who might be interested in NABA. www.naba.org
Yes! I want to join NABA and receive American Butterflies and Butterfly Gardener and/or contribute to the creation of the premier butterfly garden in the world, NABA’s National Butterfly Center. The Center, located on approximately 100 acres of land fronting the Rio Grande in Mission, Texas, uses native trees, shrubs and wildflowers to create a spectacular natural butterfly garden that significantly benefits butterflies, an endangered ecosystem, and the people of the Rio Grande Valley.
Name:
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Special Interests (circle): Listing, Gardening, Observation, Photography, Conservation, Other:
Dues enclosed (circle): Regular $35 ($70 outside U.S., Canada or Mexico), Family $45 ($90 outside North America). Special sponsorship levels: Copper $55; Skipper $100; Admiral $250; Monarch $1000. Institution/Library subscription to all annual publications $60 ($100 outside U.S., Canada or Mexico). Special tax-deductible contributions to NABA (please circle): $125, $200, $1000, $5000. Mail checks (in U.S. dollars) to: NABA, 4 Delaware Rd., Morristown, NJ 07960. Visit our website www.naba.org
Article and Other Submissions
Articles, gardening tips and observations, artwork, digital high resolution photographs, poetry and comments will be considered for publication. Contact Jane Hurwitz, Editor, hurwitz@naba.org
Advertising
Butterfly Gardener welcomes advertising. Please contact us for current rates and closing dates at naba@naba.org, or telephone 973.285.0907, or fax 973.285.0936
Membership Services
If you have questions about duplicate magazines, missing magazines, membership expiration date, change of address, etc., please write to NABA Membership Services, 4 Delaware Rd., Morristown, NJ 07960. Occasionally, members send membership dues twice. Our policy in such cases, unless instructed differently, is to extend membership for an additional year. NABA sometimes exchanges or sells its membership list to like-minded organizations that supply services or products that might be of interest to members. If you would like your name deleted from membership lists we supply to others, please write and inform us at: NABA Membership Services, 4 Delaware Rd., Morristown, NJ 07960.
This garden provides resources that increase the world’s population of Monarchs
North American Butterfly Association | www.naba.org Join the growing numbers of butterfly gardeners who have certified their gardens with NABA!
For information visit: www.nababutterfly.com
Edited
by
Stephen Love
| ISSN: 1522-8339, e-ISSN: 1548-4785, 3/year
Native Plants Journal is a forum for dispersing practical information about planting and growing North American (Canada, Mexico, and U.S.) native plants for conservation, restoration, reforestation, landscaping, highway corridors, and related uses. Topics include seed germination, planting techniques and tools, equipment, cultural techniques, production trends, seed collection, genetics, and fertilization. The second issue of each year includes the Native Plants Materials Directory, which provides information about producers of native plant materials in the U.S. and Canada. Relevant books are reviewed. Subscribers receive online access to all back issues. Volumes one through five are open access and available to all.
Native Plants Journal began in January 2000 as a cooperative effort of the USDA Forest Service and the University of Idaho, with assistance from the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
