The Butterfly Dunes
A photographic journal of a Central Florida wildlife habitat created for butterflies, caterpillars, bees, hummingbirds, and other insects that inhabit this area.
Category: Flowers, Butterfly gardens
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The past couple years, sitings of Eastern Black Swallowtails at the Butterly Dunes has have been limited. This year, I put out several Bronze Fennel plants and finally saw a female taking interest. She laid two different batches of eggs. I noticed the lizards were devouring all the 1st instar caterpillars, so I raised and…
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After several years of very few Pipevine Swallowtails at the Butterfly Dunes, several started showing up this year once the rainy season started in July. Since they do not consume the tropical non-native host plant (Aristolochia trilobata) I provide, I went on a mission to find the native Aristolochia serpentaria vine near my property, since…
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Black Knight Salvia is a hardy heat tolerant plant that grows into a large bushy shrub in this garden (about five feet tall). The hummingbirds visit this constant blooming plant the entire spring & summer.
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There are a quite a few butterflies in this area that contain a lot of black coloring. Female Spicebush Swallowtail
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“When passion meets inspiration, obsession is born.”—Ewan MacKenna My butterfly gardening journey happened instantly, as if it was my destiny. When the butterflies, pictured on the succulent above, appeared one morning in my greenhouse my life transformed, just like as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, and I’ve never looked back. I had always grown…
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This plant hosts several butterfly larvae (Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing) at the Butterfly Dunes. I have an entire area about 800 sq feet where I let it grow into a sanctuary. As of late April 2025, no rain for a month. Turning into a hot dry spring, hence not many wildflowers to accompany the…
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A bittersweet reality here in Florida. Highly invasive species that will steal your entire garden, BUT loved by pollinators. I chop it down year after year after the first bloom.
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Native wildflower in Florida. They grow as volunteers at the Butterfly Dunes & bees love them.
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Several species are truly loving this white Pentas flower in late afternoon at the Butterfly Dunes.
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“The butterfly does not look back at its caterpillar self either fondly or wistfully; it simply flies on.” —Guillermo del Toro “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” — Albert Einstein
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“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share” —Lady Bird Johnson. The summer rainy season has finally arrived. The heat stressed flowers are recovering and starting to bloom again. Just a sample of some of the current flowers. Banana tree…
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“If nothing ever changed, there would be no such things as butterflies.” — Wendy Mass
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”Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”—Alice Walker
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Danaus plexippus “The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.” –George Carlin The monarch butterfly is one of the most familiar of North American butterflies. This amazing creature is famous for its annual migration pattern on both the East and West sides of the North American Rocky Mountains. Migration patterns…
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Papilio cresphontes “We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” ― Carl Sagan, “Cosmos”
The Butterfly Dunes 