Bring back Wildflowers, Bring back Monarchs!

Orange, Black, White. In flight. Delicate beauty. Glorious sight. Please don’t disappear! Picky young eater. So no Milkweed, no Monarchs! Grow native, save lives. Learn more: The St. Louis Butterfly Project: Milkweeds for Monarchs Initiative. Bring Back the Monarchs via MonarchWatch Grow Native with Native Plants and Natural Landscaping!

Flutter Followers

I paid another visit to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield.  Unlike our previous visit (see post), it was cold and dry outside, and hot and humid inside.  This month is particularly good for visiting since so many butterflies are released, especially the blue morphos.  Most of the blue morphos were active, making it difficult for

A Caterpillar With Passion

This is a caterpillar, perhaps a Fritillary or the Passion Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) atop a Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora incarnata).  Passion Flower is native to Missouri and a rather aggressive vine.  If you choose to landscape with this, you will enjoy its gorgeous flowers and its attractiveness to butterflies, but beware its rapid growth habit!

Butterfly along Vertical Prairie

This little guy was hanging out on a green retaining wall planted with Missouri natives.

The Butterfly House

We visited The Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield, Missouri today.  It was hot and humid outside…and hot and humid inside the Butterfly House.  But the butterflies seem to love their tropical paradise.  It’s difficult to chase butterflies around with a camera, so I ended up mainly capturing resting individuals.  This facility promotes environmental