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Zone Florida
If you want butterflies in your Florida garden, you need plants ...two
kinds of plants
1. plants on which caterpillars prefer to feed known as larval plants
2. plants that feed butterflies known as nectar plants
click pics to enlarge
Nectar plants are those you usually think off as attracting bees like this nice
fat bumblebee...
click pics to enlarge
Before you can enjoy butterflies...


click pics to enlarge
to feed caterpillars you need larval plants ...caterpillar critters like this fellow...
click pics to enlarge
Female butterflies are attracted to plants that can feed caterpillars. Butterflies
fly to those preferred plants to lay their eggs which hatch ...then develop into
caterpillars which later emerge as butterflies
Caterpillars eat the leaves of such plants
click pics to enlarge
So, in supplying larval plants you need to allow the caterpillars to go ahead and
eat your plants' leaves ...if you see the caterpillars and kill them off, you
have destroyed the potential butterfly crop
One other important consideration is to offer a nice variety of different butterfly
plants that bloom at various times of year ...so whenever butterflies are around,
you have nectar on hand
The vast majority of butterfly plants require a good amount of sun hours ...only
partial shade is OK to raise flowering plants for butterflies
So what plants do butterflies and caterpillars like in Florida?
Shop for these plants...
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Mexican Flame Vine, Senecio confusus
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Porter Weed, Stachytarheta jamaicensis
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Chenille Plant, Acalypha hispida Pic
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Salvia, Salvia coccinea (red) (all Salvia)
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Thryallis, Thryallis glauca Pic
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Pentas, Pentas lanceolata (many colors)
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Firespike, Odontonema strictum Pic
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Bleeding Heart Vine, Clerodendrum thompsomiae
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Jatropha, Jatropha integerrima Pic
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Fireworks, Clerodendrum quadriloculare
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Cassia, Senna bicapsularis Pic
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Summer Lilac, Buddleja davidii
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Butterfly Plant, Clerodendrum ugandense
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Lantana, Lantana camara (many colors)
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Shooting Star, Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum
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Shrimp Plant (red), Justicia branegeana
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Shrimp Plant (yellow), Justicia lutea Pic
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Butterfly Firebush, Hamelia cupreum
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King's Mantle, Thunbergia erecta
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Tibouchina, Tibouchina urvilleana
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Stictocardia, Stictocardia beraviensis
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Dutchman's Pipe, Aristolochia gigantea
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Mussaenda, Mussaenda erythrophylla
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Powder Puff, Calliandra Haematocephala
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Zamia, Zamia integrifolia Pic
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Allamanda Vine, Allamanda cathartica Pic
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Angel's Trumpet, Brugmansia suaveolens Pic
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Sky Vine, Thunbergia grandiflora Pic
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Pepper (kind you grind) Piper nigrum
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Coffee (kind you drink) Coffea arabica
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Wild Coffee, Psychotria nervosa Pic
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Lipstick Tree, Bixa orellano Pic
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Golden Dewdrop, Duranta erecta Pic
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Spanish Needles, Bidens alba (weed)
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Lucky Nut, Thevetia peruviana Pic
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Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica Pic
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Giant Milkweed, Calotropis gigantea
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Wild Lime, Zanthoxylum fagara
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Spanish Shawl, Dissotis rotundifolia
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Mandevilla Vine, Mandevilla boliviensis
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Chocolate Tree, Theobroma cacao
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Crown of Thorns, Euphorbia milii Pic
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Jatropha, Jatropha compacta Pic
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Wild / False Tamarind Tree Pic
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Passion Vine, many Passiflora species. Pics
#1 #2
#3 Passion Vine
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