A New Butterfly Host Plant + Prepping My Garden for While I’m. Away

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]As it turns out, I have to take an unexpected road trip. So, it's like a 15-hour one-day drive road trip um with my brother.

[00:00:13]And my husband will be here, but this garden's a lot of work. So, I am going to be doing what I can to make this garden as easy for him to care for as possible. Starting with my hanging baskets. They dry out so fast.

[00:00:31]They have to be watered sometimes morning and night.

[00:00:36]So, I'm moving them all into this area here which um Oh my gosh, I just saw the funniest thing. Remember how I showed you that I put the deadheaded Mexican sunflowers up in the little feeder for the squirrel and they just completely disappear? I think I just discovered where it takes them to eat them. Look at this.

[00:01:07]>> [laughter] [gasps] >> So, it goes and gets them and it comes down here and just snacks away. Is that not fabulous?

[00:01:16]But, it keeps them well-fed and it keeps them away from my current blooms. So, I love it. It's working.

[00:01:25]Now, this whole nectar garden right here is a lot of pots. So, I'm going to have him water this for me and my um Mexican sunflower garden.

[00:01:37]But, these hanging baskets then can stay. And these two verbenas, they don't suffer as greatly as my other hanging baskets.

[00:01:46]Um they tolerate it well. So, they'll be fine here and this whole garden section will get watered.

[00:01:54]My Lantana depressas are going down there.

[00:02:09]Especially those two. Oh my gosh, those ones are always thirsty.

[00:02:14]And of course my Ageratum's or blue mist flower Florida native. This one I think I'm going to take in my garden room and give it a good deadheading clean up first.

[00:02:28]There. This one's looking a lot better.

[00:02:31]I got out the dead crunchy ones.

[00:02:36]Okay. That's the last of the hanging baskets.

[00:02:41]And the reason I'm putting them in here is because this only gets morning light and then it's all afternoon in the blazing heat it gets shade.

[00:02:50]And it'll be really easy for me to tell my husband when he's watering that to go ahead and just give this a quick hit too. And I didn't put any plants in my little squirrel friend snacking spot. That is the most adorable thing.

[00:03:09][laughter] Look, my little American painted lady is still here. I've seen her in the garden.

[00:03:22]And I think that is fantastic.

[00:03:26]And oh well, speaking of that. Oh my gosh, this is perfect timing. Thank you, little lady. She is a great um segue to one of the next things I was going to do.

[00:03:41]Look at the little white tips on her antenna. Well, I say her.

[00:03:48]But >> [laughter] >> it could be a It's so funny, American Painted Lady.

[00:03:55]But, you know, there has to be males.

[00:03:58]>> [laughter] >> I ordered some sweet everlasting from Joyful Butterfly, which is their host plant, and funny thing is I ordered that before that butterfly even showed up in my garden cuz I wanted to get them. And they've been here. I unboxed them, and I've got them right here in my garden room to acclimate. I want to get them in a pot, so they'll have access to more water, and I do have one of these big pots I got from Target, and by the way, they had, when I was there last, all of these pots 40% off. So, of course, I bought more. I am going down to put some potting soil in this, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been saying it wrong. You can tell these butterflies are not regular in my garden because I keep saying American Painted Lady. Now, it's just the American Lady.

[00:05:03]There's the American Lady or the Painted Lady. So, it's the American Lady butterfly that the sweet everlasting is the larval host for, and that's the butterfly we just saw in my garden, and I'm going to put potting soil in my pot, and I will probably say the butterfly name wrong again in the future.

[00:05:27]And if you're looking to get butterfly host plants or nectar plants that you maybe can't find at your local nursery that are natives to your area, Joyful Butterfly is my favorite online shop, and I do have an affiliate link for them in the description of all my videos and a lot of you already use that when you shop and I love it. I appreciate it so much but sound coming out to my outdoor enclosure. I'm going to put some of my grown back pipevine in there and I have three big polydamas swallowtail caterpillars in the enclosure and when they're big they go through the food and I don't want them to run out so I'm they're just going to have out whatever's in here but as I'm standing here, guess what?

[00:06:15]There's a bunch of butterflies in there.

[00:06:17]Let's go see them all.

[00:06:19]Look at that. Oh my gosh, this is just fantastic.

[00:06:27]Look at all those polydamas.

[00:06:32]Oh my gosh, there's so many of them.

[00:06:35]All right, I'm going to go swoop them out.

[00:06:39]Look, there's like a whole row of them sitting here.

[00:06:45]And there's monarch and there's another monarch and there's another polydamas.

[00:06:53]Oh.

[00:06:54]This one just landed on my head.

[00:06:57]>> [laughter] >> Oh my gosh, I love them. Now, let's see.

[00:07:02]Can you want to There we go. Did you see it? It flew out all by itself. How awesome. All right, I'll be right back. All these ones that are grown back here, I'm just going to trade out even though they haven't grown back much. There's only three caterpillars.

[00:07:20]Surely surely this will be enough for them and there's still some in the enclosure as well.

[00:07:35]All right, we are loaded up with pipevine and there's not that many guys in here, so they should be good to go.

[00:07:52]Look at these two swallowtails. Mhm.

[00:08:03]So, it's Tuesday and the road trip is tomorrow. We're leaving at 4:00. Yes, 4:00 in the morning for a 16-hour car drive with my brother.

[00:08:19]Mhm.

[00:08:21]I don't look forward to traveling, but I do look forward to seeing family I haven't seen in a while.

[00:08:30]Um there's a lot of butterflies out this morning, and we have a very very high chance of rain today.

[00:08:39]I mean, would that not be fabulous? Uh super good downpour on my garden right before I go away for a couple days. Even though my husband will be here, it'd just be nice.

[00:08:55]Have everything watered in. I'll probably come back to an overgrown garden and be like, "Ah, what happened?"

[00:09:01]>> [laughter] >> So, now I'm heading out to the enclosure out here, see if there's anybody out and about. Oh my, I think this is the most I've ever had.

[00:09:12]You see them all in there.

[00:09:14]Oh, wow. See, and there's one of my big boys getting ready to pupate.

[00:09:19]Here's another one. This one still looks like it's drying its wings.

[00:09:24]There's some monarchs in here. Oh my gosh, look at this beauty.

[00:09:29]Oh.

[00:09:32]Okay. Okay, let's go get you all out and let you fly.

[00:09:37]There's a Gulf fritillary caterpillar up there. I guess he went up there to um molt, maybe. His plant is right down here.

[00:09:46]Um Why is there monarch caterpillar on this plant? I'll move it. I'll help it find find what it's looking for.

[00:09:56]Although, it could be looking to pupate, but still.

[00:09:59]And look at this gorgeous monarch. I think that one just eclosed from that chrysalis back there. It's still drying its wings.

[00:10:09]I see there's a monarch there, too. Not quite ready to go. Still drying its wings. But these chrysalids here are empty.

[00:10:18]Polydamas, except this one. So, there's still another one there.

[00:10:23]And look at this adorable little one. Oh my goodness, so cute. I'm going to miss them.

[00:10:30]Coming in to see their cute little selves. That'll be exciting to come home. I cannot wait till the day I come home, get to explore my garden, look for eggs, possibly new caterpillars.

[00:10:43]It's going to be great. And film for you guys. I love filming.

[00:10:49]And these monarchs That monarch there, he's still practicing or she she's still practicing her wings. I'm going to leave her in here longer till she's a little bit sturdier. Oh my gosh, look at that bird right there.

[00:11:02]It's e- Ew, it had a Gulf fritillary caterpillar.

[00:11:06]Oh.

[00:11:09]Oh.

[00:11:10]You know, I know life happens.

[00:11:13]And I love the birds.

[00:11:16]I just don't want to know about it. I don't want to see it happen. I'm aware that it happens, but I don't want to experience it happening.

[00:11:25]There we go.

[00:11:27]And one more thing that I did, um I had all these pentas, the white pentas, and the red.

[00:11:34]I thought I'd plant one here. Yes.

[00:11:36]It's Those are not the um heirloom.

[00:11:39]They'll just add color. I have seen butterflies go for the white ones, though.

[00:11:44]Anyway, I went ahead and put them in the ground, so they'll get access to water.

[00:11:50]And they won't be all looking all sad and desperate like they like to do.

[00:11:56]Look at my porterweed coming in strong.

[00:12:01]Speaking of porterweed, man, I've got I found porterweed seedlings all over.

[00:12:06]They're still little. I think when they get a little bit bigger, I'll dig them up and start moving them and cramming them in back here.

[00:12:16]Look at There's an Elliott's aster. I think that's an Elliott's aster I'm coming in back there.

[00:12:23]Okay.

[00:12:28]And my um sweet almond is blooming.

[00:12:33]And it's gorgeous. I do need to trim it down again because it's trying to get those really tall stalks that I can't reach, and the butterflies will go to, and then I can't photograph them. Mhm.

[00:12:47]We want to keep it all down here at my level.

[00:12:52]I said we can look at things like this little pollinator.

[00:13:01]Just looked over here. One of my um native plant haul plants, they're all still sitting here in the wagon. They're going to stay here cuz that way they'll have good water.

[00:13:11]It's blooming.

[00:13:13]This is the anise hyssop.

[00:13:16]Oh my gosh, look at it.

[00:13:21]That's fabulous. And you know what else?

[00:13:24]Like when I come back here, my husband's um um pennyroyal, yeah.

[00:13:32]Always has some kind of pollinators on it, like buzzing all around. Of course, now it doesn't cuz I want to talk about it.

[00:13:40]Oh, wait, there's somebody there.

[00:13:44]I think it's a love bug. Okay. Anyway, there's all They're like very popular, so I might happen to steal one. Mhm.

[00:13:54]Although I do you know what? I can get more.

[00:13:58]Look at this little guy.

[00:14:01]I have so many different pollinators in my garden. Like, they all look different from one another.

[00:14:09]I have a wide variety of species, which I want to learn more about and um who they are because they're very cool.

[00:14:21]And I also want to share it with you.

[00:14:23]And I know the reason for them is because the wide variety of native plants that I have in my garden.

[00:14:37]And look at my golden cannas getting its seed pods. These are just beautiful.

[00:14:45]Look at how fuzzy they are.

[00:14:50]But they're not soft fuzzy, they're a neat fuzzy. There's so many different textures in a butterfly garden, too, especially when you have a wide variety of plants and you're a collector.

[00:15:06]It's just interesting to watch them. Oh, speaking of that, I have something else I want to show you.

[00:15:10]Remember my Florida native iris that um I filmed about? Uh it's been it's been videos ago, but it was the heading of the video, so you can go find it. It was gorgeous. Well, it's seed pods are so heavy, they make the stems go down to the ground. Let me show you. I'm going to try and find one and pull it up.

[00:15:37]So, here it is.

[00:15:38]And here's the stem right here. You see how it's down here?

[00:15:46]Pull it up.

[00:15:47]Okay, so this is where the flowers were.

[00:15:51]And look at these things.

[00:15:54]They are heavy. It's like a fruit. Are these fruits?

[00:15:59]>> [laughter] >> But look at that. And what's so cool about them is they are heavy because they need to go down cuz this is a water-loving plant.

[00:16:11]So, for it to survive, it needs to get established in water. So, the assumption is that since this is a viable plant, clearly producing these things, that if it goes down, these are going to end up in water, and therefore we will continue to have plants. Aren't they neat? I wish you I could show you how heavy they are.

[00:16:35]But they're so heavy, they make Watch, I'm going to let it go. It's going to go thunk.

[00:16:41]See that? And they go right down. So, I'm loving watching them as they progress and see what they do.

[00:16:53]My little aquatic milkweeds right here are blooming, too. I want to get more of those.

[00:16:59]And just randomly scatter them around in wetland pots, like this one is here.

[00:17:06]You know, because I need more plants. Mhm.

[00:17:11]So, as you can tell from this video, I am not a super huge, "Ooh, I love to travel" person.

[00:17:19]I'm definitely a homebody. Probably why I've created this glorious space in my backyard, so I don't ever have the need to go anywhere else to find something beautiful and peaceful. I just walk out my back door.

[00:17:34]Um but I know that's not the case with everyone. So, our question for the end of the video club this time is, are you a homebody? And if you are, post one of those little house emojis.

[00:17:52]Or are you a travel person? Loves to travel, loves to explore the planet. Then put any kind of emoji that um shows travel, like an airplane or a car or maybe a destination, like uh the beach or the mountains or just something. If it's not a house, I'll know you're a traveler. And if you want to share more, like where you like to travel, like do you like to go to the beach? Do you like to go to other countries?

[00:18:27]Do you like to go to the mountains? Do you like to go hiking? Do you like to go to luxury resorts? Do you like to go to theme parks? You know, if you want to get more detailed, I'd love it.

[00:18:41]Meanwhile, I will be giving you the house emoji. Okay, I hope you enjoyed this video. I will see you soon.

[00:18:51]While you're watching this, I'm probably on my way back. Yay! [screaming] And um I'll see you in the next video.

[00:18:59]Please tap the like button.

[00:19:01]Join the Milkweed crew.

[00:19:04]I've gotten some more new crew members.

[00:19:06]Thank you. I love you guys.

[00:19:09]And um just join. You'll love it. You won't regret it. I don't think anybody who's joined the milkweed crew has regretted it. It's less than a cup of coffee.

[00:19:21]Okay, bye everyone.

[00:19:24]You guys, I almost forgot one last thing. There was the most odd-looking insect or insects on my milkweed. So, I took a picture of it. I put it on Instagram with a question mark and like people are always liking the photo.

[00:19:44]Uh, but what I want to know is what is it? Um, I think it's two insects, maybe one eating another. It could be ones that are green lynx spiders and something else.

[00:20:00]Maybe somebody was eating so I I don't know. It's the most bizarre thing. So, I'm going to put that photo at the very end of this video. Like after this part, unless I find something else to talk about.

[00:20:16]And will you tell me if you know what it is? It's bizarre.

[00:20:21]All right, bye everyone.

[00:20:23]Yes, I'm still here and I know it's supposed to rain, but I don't trust it.

[00:20:28]So, I'm just out filling things like bird baths and as I'm standing here filling the bird bath, my eyes glance over here and what do I see?

[00:20:39]The international symbol of spicebush swallowtail caterpillars.

[00:20:46]There's one there.

[00:20:49]There's one there.

[00:20:54]And there.

[00:20:56]And there.

[00:20:58]>> [laughter] >> The day I'm leaving. I'm like, really?

[00:21:02]Oh my gosh. There's one there and there's one there and am I leaving these out here? Absolutely not. And there is a little adorable guy right there. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put one of my big potted plants. Here's another one.

[00:21:22]in the enclosure and move all these. This one's even bigger. I'm going to take them all in and put them on one of my plants. Oh my gosh, there's so many of them.

[00:21:36]This is just incredible.

[00:21:40]I'm so excited. Oh my goodness. Okay.

[00:21:44]I'm going to go do that. I have my potted spice bush plants right over here. So, since there's so many of them I want to find a nice Well, that one's got big leaves. That'll probably do. And you know what? If I have to, like I've got so many of them out here I can switch them out. Oh, that one's really big also.

[00:22:06]I think I'll Oh, and there's more down there, and there's another one there.

[00:22:09]So, I'm good. I'm good. We're going to be good to go.

[00:22:13]You guys, there were so many of them. I put another plant in.

[00:22:17]Oh my goodness. So, I just I'm seeing if I can find one. I don't want to disturb them because they're all just laying on a new leaf.

[00:22:30]And I just Here's one here. Look.

[00:22:33]I just laid the leaf they're on on top of another leaf.

[00:22:43]Make sure it doesn't fall now.

[00:22:45]And if they were folded, I put the folded leaf on. If they're out in the open, I put the open leaf on, and then they'll just naturally crawl onto the new plant.

[00:22:57]There were so many I didn't even count.

[00:22:58]I don't count cuz then if one goes missing, I worry too much. So, I just don't want to know. You know, like I said earlier, I don't want to know. I know things happen. I just don't want to know about them.

[00:23:09]All right. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. I wish it was going to be here to see them climb on and see all their new little tents.

[00:23:17]But, it'll be something to look forward to when I get home, y'all. Oh my gosh, what a great ending to this video. Okay, maybe this is all. Bye, everyone. Okay, I'm back again, but I can't stand it.

[00:23:32]There is just too much. Look at the long antenna adorableness going on.

[00:23:41]I mean, look at this little guy right here.

[00:23:45]>> [laughter] [gasps] >> And then, of course, we've got the queen.

[00:23:53]Oh my gosh.

[00:23:56]Look at them all. They're adorable.

[00:24:04]Look at the little face.

[00:24:06]Oh gosh.

[00:24:10]Okay. All right.

[00:24:12]Okay.

[00:24:15]There we go.

[00:24:16]Bye, everyone.

[00:24:18]Look at those dark clouds. Woohoo!