Meanwhile, cassia plants draw the yellow-colored sulphur butterflies.Ĭhang also says what might grow well in one part of the Tampa Bay Area won’t necessarily perform as well elsewhere in the region. Firebush (Hamelia patens) can also serve as a nutritious host plant for caterpillars, which eventually transform into chrysalises before emerging as adults in the form of butterflies. For example, milkweed lures monarchs, and firebush offers nectar for a variety of butterflies as well as hummingbirds. “Different kinds of butterflies are drawn to different kinds of flowers,” she says. A decade-plus in the garden has also taught her that a butterfly garden needs many types of plants to attract diverse species and help each at different stages of their life cycles. It also requires dedication, which serves well the retiree who worked “too many years” as a computer programmer but now finds joy spending a few hours each week lost in her love for butterflies and native plants at the USF gardens.
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This comprehensive approach to creating a space where butterflies can live, feed, pollinate, and live a full life cycle is key to helping these insects thrive and, hopefully, spawn. She also says large shrubs, trees, and vine-covered pergolas can provide shelter and a safe haven from natural predators.
“Bird baths provide water and rocks offer minerals,” Chang notes. What’s the goal when planting a Florida landscape for butterflies and other pollinators? To create a habitat where these sensitive insects can feed, and also breed and thrive.
“You can plant milkweed and other flowers to feed the butterflies, but if you don’t provide the other essentials they need, your garden is basically just a drive-through restaurant,” explains Kai Kai Chang, who has served for 10 years as a horticultural assistant in the USF Botanical Gardens’ butterfly garden. And while milkweed is important, the ideal Florida landscape for butterflies goes well beyond planting milkweed alone. The 10-acre botanical gardens contain several spots that give homeowners and even apartment dwellers with limited planting space a plethora of ideas for creating beautiful natural environments that will help attract and protect butterflies, honeybees, ladybugs, and other pollinators. Those who want an idea of what a Florida-friendly landscape looks like can pay a visit to the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens in Tampa. Moreover, Florida-friendly landscapes can help sustain butterflies and other pollinator insects – the very kinds that are enduring staggering population declines due to widespread habitat loss, powerful pesticides, and the continued disappearance of milkweed due to the use glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup and other chemicals. Augustine spreads and resort-ready tropical foliage may be absent, but in their place are environmentally friendly landscapes that are easy to maintain, thrive in the moody Central Florida climate, and help propagate and nourish butterflies and other beneficial insects known as pollinators. These so-called Florida-friendly landscapes are popping up throughout the Tampa Bay Area and beyond. These days, more Florida homeowners are turning away from sweeping lawns and exotic plants in favor of low-maintenance landscapes filled with native plants. Throughout much of the 20th century, many embraced the idea of a perfect Florida landscape as one with a few palms standing in the middle of vast, neatly manicured lawns.
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