Fritillary butterfly

The Passion and the Pea

| Flower Roberts

This was one of my favorite finds of the whole trip to Charleston. These two intertwined vines are covering two separate trellises in the gardens of the Manigault House.

Passiflora vines and Butterfly Pea/ Bluebell vines/Clitoria ternatea vines covering sidewalk sentinel trellises near the gatehouse.

Gatehouse of the Manigault House


Not only are the blooming vines bursting with Fritillary butterflies. They are also crawling with caterpillars of all sizes. 

Fritillary caterpillars all over Passion leaves

One is even forming a chrysalis. It was hanging beside a peapod of a similar shape.

Caterpillar to chrysalis

The passion flowers are a deep purple and the pea blooms are deep blue. My camera did not do them justice.

Passion flower
Blue Pea bloom/Bluebell/Butterfly Pea

I just had to pause a while to watch all the fluttering and crawling on these Passions and Peas.

Fritillary butterfly

FLOWER

Lovin’ some Larvae

| Flower Roberts

Butterflies do not just hatch from the egg with wings.

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Fritillary Butterfly

They must first go through a larval stage called caterpillar.

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Variegated Fritillary caterpillar on Passion vine

Then they have to bind themselves up for a while to go through metamorphosis.

While they are wrapped up(pupating) in the chrysalis (not pictured),

all their cells rearrange into a butterfly or moth.  Then they have their wings.

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Sphinx moth caterpillar on Four o’clocks

Now everybody loves butterflies and colorful moths.

What if we went around killing all the weird and spiky worms in our yards?

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Fritillary caterpillar after molting

Then there would be no lovely fliers later, because everyone killed them as babies.

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Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on Passion vine

If you don’t ” love some larvae”, leave them alone.

They are waiting for their wings.

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FLOWER

My Friends the Fliers

| Flower Roberts

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Humming bird on a dogwood tree.

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Hornet eating a fig.

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Damselfly in distress.

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Fritillary Butterfly on Buddlea

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Dragon fly on a stick.

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Swallowtail on a sedum.

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Dragon fly on a lamp.

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Humming bird at a feeder.

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Pearl Crescent on Black-eyed Susan bloom.

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Hawk Moth at Butterfly bush.

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Swallowtail on a butterfly bush.

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Bumble bee on a fig leaf.

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Cicada on wooden post.

 

Follow the Fliers!