Butterflies abound around town

Stage One

Stage Two

Stage Three

Does it seem like there are more butterflies this summer? Red Admirals, Tiger Swallowtails, Viceroys, Buckeyes, Monarchs and my favorite, the Zebra Swallowtail, seem to be thriving. Maybe people are using more native plants in their gardens. Maybe it’s the weather or maybe people are cutting back on chemical lawn care products. Whatever the reason, it’s wonderful to have such a colorful display of these little critters at the Women’s Park and the gardens around town.

This year I’ve heard a lot of talk about “raising” butterflies. It took me a while to figure out that “raising” really means finding and protecting the eggs and the caterpillars from an array of predators. Given a fairly simple screened-in cage and a few leaves from the right host plant, the caterpillar actually has a chance to form a chrysalis and eventually emerge as a butterfly. Release that butterfly in the garden and the cycle starts again.

The photos show an Eastern Black Swallowtail going from caterpillar to butterfly in about 3 or 4 weeks – truly an amazing process. Start looking for those butterflies and don’t step on the good caterpillars.

Photos and text by Jerry Sutton, Sandy McHugh and Roger Reynolds