Frittilary Butterflies and Caterpillars in the Garden

I planted the Passion Fruit Vine in my front yard for the beauty of the flower, the meaning behind the plants and flowers, and to support frittilary butterflies in their entire life cycle.

Frittilary butterflies lay their eggs only on Passion Fruit Vines. The caterpillars only eat Passion Fruit Vines. I love what Anna Botsford Comstock said in her HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY page 332 "Some people think that insects will eat anything that comes their way; but of all animals, insects are the most fastidious as to their food."  This is an important point, because a person can add certain types of plants to their yard to help the butterflies without fear that those caterpillars will decimate their crops.

I sure would like to get some more detailed information about frittilaries, but for now I am making do with the information about other butterflies found in the HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY .

Well, just recently the care I have taken planting these easy-to-grow vines has paid some dividends to our nature studies.

This morning, I saw a frittilary emerging from its chrysalis. It was so young and weak that it wasn't flapping its wings yet and just resting there, a newly formed butterfly. You can imagine I called my children to view this wonder. We observed this little creature for some time.

While we were out there, I started looking for other caterpillars on our Passion Fruit Vines. Look what we found.

And...

And look at this one with 3 on one leaf.

And in this picture, you can see the frittilary mother laying more eggs on the right side of the picture, while the caterpillars work on the leaves on the left. There is also a caterpillar on the stem in the center of the picture.

How amazing! How awesome! And awe inspiring.

We will continue to observe this wonder over the seasons.

Submitting this article for Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Working Through the August Outdoor Hour Challenge Grid

This month's Outdoor Hour Challenge included a grid, as it always does for those who subscribe to the free monthly newsletter on Barb's Handbook of Nature Study.

One of the squares asked us to find an insect.

We found a frittilary butterfly caterpillar. I had read on an online site about them, that even though these caterpillars look spiky and dangerous, they will not hurt humans. The girls fought over holding it, while my son just touched it one time with one finger.

We read some information about caterpillars and butterflies from the HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY . They didn't have any specific information about frittilaries, but there was some good general information. I need some good detailed information about frittilaries, since we have Passion Fruit Vines for them.

Another day, we made a little mud and the girls walked through it in their bare feet. This was another square from the grid. I have always been very reluctant to let my kids get muddy and the encouragement from the August Garden Grid helped me to give them permission. I have read in the book The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids: 101 Ways to Get Kids Outside, Dirty, and Having Fun  that one of the best ways to get your kids interested in gardening is to let them get dirty on a regular basis. Sigh. So there is some more encouragement. It is really hard for me to do this, though. It seems to go against something basic in me.

Anyway, I mentioned it to my daughters and they were thrilled. They ran right out and started the hose.

They had a great time, though my middle daughter did mention that even with all the rain we have been having, she had a really hard time making the mud "squishy." She said, "It's hard still. It won't go between my toes."

My son wanted no part of this sort of mess.

I have a lot more I want to share about our Outdoor Nature Study for this month, but I think I will put them in other posts to keep this one from getting too long.

Submitting this entry for The Outdoor Blog Carnival with Barb from Handbook of Nature Study Blog (a lovely site with lots of great ideas to get your family out the door.)