GIANT SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES One of Florida’s largest butterflies is the Giant Swallowtail. When flying through your pollinator garden, it can often be mistaken for a small bird. The Giant Swallowtail lays its eggs on trees in the Citrus family. Native host plants are Wild Lime and Hercules Club. In Citrus groves, these caterpillars are minor pests, called Orange Dogs. In your garden, you may find them difficult to spot, especially when they are small, as they tend to look like bird droppings on the leaves. Eventually the caterpillar will get quite large and be more easily seen. Don’t squash it! It will soon become that big beautiful butterfly flitting about. EIGHT SPOTTED FORESTER MOTHS Most people know moths as night-flying creatures, and the majority certainly are. But some are active during the daytime, including this one, the Eight-Spotted Forester. Many day-flying moths are colorful, but small. This one is colorful, larger and easily mistaken for a butterfly. Its flight is fast and the black and white spots can create a strobe-like effect as the moth darts by. The caterpillars feed on Wild Grape and Virginia Creeper. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 BOB PETERSON Honey Bee on Rice Button Aster (Symphyotrichum dumosum). Be sure to see the Climbing & Elliott’s Aster feature in the center of this guide. About Honey Bees The non-native Honey Bee has become a valued agricultural worker in the U.S., owing to its tolerance for being boxed, shipped and deployed where needed to pollinate food crops. The downside of this mobile workforce: we’re now reliant on one species that’s in a lot of trouble. Before Honey Bees arrived with Europeans, American plants were pollinated by native bees. Native bees cannot be kept in a box and shipped but can be very effective, in some cases more effective, than Honey Bees. Examples of food plants that depend on native bees for pollination: blueberries, cherries, cranberries, eggplants, pumpkins and tomatoes. Giant Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, naturally disguised to look like a bird dropping, on Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), a small native tree in the citrus family. The day-flying Eight Spotted Forester moth on one of its three native host plants, Wild Grape (Vitis speces). FROM TOP: TARYN EVANS, ERIC HOFFMAN www.PlantRealFlorida.org FALL 2016-2017 GUIDE FOR REAL FLORIDA GARDENERS 9
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