In the garden

I have a serious lack of butterflies this year even though my butterfly plants are thriving.

I saw a couple of monarchs, one queen, and a few gulf fritillary.

The monarch needs tropical milkweed plants to lay its eggs and feed the larvae.  I have plenty of milkweed and I’ve seen two monarchs so far this year.

The gulf fritillary and zebra longwing both use the passion flower vine for a host plant.  I had one and it was growing like crazy.  Then about a month ago I noticed that all of the leaves were gone.  Now it’s dead.  I didn’t think anything could kill the passion flower vine. 

Here’s one of the few gulf fritillaries that I have seen.

I usually have so many swallowtail butterflies I can’t count them.  Not this year.  I got a photo of one. 

I even planted parsley in the butterfly garden and that’s their host plant.

We had some freezes last year which knocked down some of my plant so they had a late start.

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing the lack of butterflies, or is it just me?