We return to our Florida home after enjoying our Upstate New York Lakehouse for almost three months. Our Florida gardens are planted with host plant species to provide continued food for caterpillars and other larvae, as well as pollen for adult butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds, aka POLLINATORS. Both July and August had above average rainfalls, so the bushy plants we left in June are now walls of foliage and flowers. The lantanas have fared especially well, as well as the several plots of coleus. The red Pentas are always a mainstay for the pollinators, and the firebushes that were pruned back to the ground are now 7 feet tall. The blue salvias continue to attract bees and the Passion flower vines with their complex flowers are draped over everything, serving as nurseries for the Zebra Longwing and Gulf Fritillary butterflies. The consequence of this is the backyard is filled with several species of Swallowtail, Longwing, Sulfer, and Fritillary butterflies as well as bees and hummingbirds to welcome us back to Florida.
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