The Great Spangled Fritillary (GSF) caterpillars need lots of violets
Most of us now know that female Monarchs will only lay eggs on the leaves of Milkweed species and the Monarch caterpillars will only eat Milkweed leaves.
To many folks the violet as ground cover is a nuisance. I once felt that way too, but that changed when I encountered the GSF laying her eggs in the leaf litter. So I did some snooping on the net. Here is a Xerces link that explains the violet’s importance to the Fritillaris. https://xerces.org/blog/plants-for-pollinators-violets
To see the GSF butterfly, I now welcome lots of violets
I got lucky this morning with #2 image. Night temps are in the 50’s and soon the first frost will kill. Last night was rough on all of them. I was surprised this one even showed.
Robert
Sep 09, 2025 at 04:01 PM
Previous versions of bs kite's message #16887427 « The Great Spangled Fritillary (GSF) caterpillars need lots of violets »
