Jerry and Rose Payne in Musella are two of Georgia’s leading butterfly experts who, over the years, have studied, surveyed and written about butterflies across the state.
Summer, which is only 11 days away, is peak butterfly time in Georgia, so I gave the Paynes a call to get a refresher on the colorful insects. Here are some of the tidbits I gleaned from them:
• There are about 750 species of butterflies in North America north of Mexico. Georgia has more than 160 species, which may vary in abundance from place to place. Some occur seasonally; others occur throughout the entire flowering season. Almost any garden in Georgia can lure 30 or so species with the right mix of plants and other amenities.
• Butterflies need two kinds of plants: nectar-producing flowers for adults and “host plants” for the nourishment of caterpillars. Adult butterflies may sip nectar from a variety of flowers but caterpillars are picky about the plants they eat. For instance, zebra swallowtail caterpillars eat only the foliage of pawpaw trees. Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat only milkweeds.
• For a successful butterfly garden, plan ahead. Learn about the species of butterflies you want to attract and what they need. You will need to provide areas suited for all stages of a butterfly‘s life: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and adult. Butterflies are cold-blooded, so they need warm, sunny areas. Generally, butterflies fly when air temperatures are 60-108 degrees.
• Some of the butterfly species you can lure to your yard include the swallowtails (Eastern tiger, zebra, pipevine, black and spicebush); orange and cloudless sulphurs; hairstreaks (red-banded, great purple and gray); monarch; mourning cloak; buckeye; pearl cresent; gulf and variegated fritillaries; spring azure; Eastern tailed blue; American painted lady and several others.
For more information, download the Paynes’ brochure, “Backyard Butterflies,” from this website: http://georgiawildlife.com/node/1165
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be last quarter next weekend. Mercury and Venus are low in the east around dawn. Jupiter is high in the east just after sunset. Saturn rises out of the east at sunset.
