Butterfly - Southwest Georgia Master Gardeners

Importance of Butterflies
Butterflies are important pollinators as well as a
good source of food for other animals. Birds, insects
and frogs all prey on butterfly larvae and adults. To
compensate for their population loss, most butterflies
are prolific breeders, laying hundreds of eggs
twice a year.
Butterflies serve as environmental indicators due to
their rapid response to climatic and habitat changes.
The absence of some species in a particular region
could be linked to habitat loss and degradation.
Butterfly
Gardening
in Southwest Georgia
A Short History of Radium Springs
About Butterflies
Butterflies, skippers and moths all belong in the
insect order Lepidoptera, which means “scaly wings,”
as their wings are lined with tiny scales. Their
bodies are covered with hair-like structures called
setae. Most butterflies feed on nectar and pollen
using a long coiled tongue called a proboscis.
Butterflies can taste with their feet, a feature that
allows them to pick the right host plant before laying
eggs.
Forewing
Antennae
Thorax
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus
Georgia’s State Butterfly
For more information, please contact
Dougherty County Cooperative Extension
125 Pine Avenue, Suite 100, Albany, Ga. 31701
229 436-7216
uge4095@uga.edu
www.UGAextension.com/Dougherty
University of Georgia Learning for Life
The University of Georgia, Ft. Valley, the U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture and counties of the state cooperating; Cooperative
Extension offers educational programs, assistance, and
materials to all people. An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative
Action Organization committed to a diverse workforce.
Graphic design by R.Munguia www.wildstockphotos.com
Radium Springs Gardens
Monarch Butterfly Pollinator Garden
1416 Radium Springs Road
Albany, Ga. 31705
Hours
Tues. – Sat. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays & Holidays
Radium Springs is Georgia’s largest natural spring and
is one of its “7 Natural Wonders”. Native Americans
considered Radium Springs sacred and called it “Skywater”
because they believed the sapphire blue color
of the water had dropped from the sky. Early white
settlers called the springs “Blue Springs”. When trace
elements of radium were discovered in the water in
1925, it was renamed Radium Springs.
Barron Collier purchased the property in the 1920’s
and completed the Casino in 1927. In 1944 Radium
Springs was sold to Richard Tift and a group of investors.
They renovated the Casino and added underwater
lighting to the spring. Though the property
changed hands several times afterwards, it remained a
center of community activities.
The Casino was badly damaged in the 1994 “500 year
flood” and then flooded again in 1998. After a valiant
effort to save the Casino, it was sold in FEMA’s Flood
Buyout Program and demolished in 2003.
The Radium Springs Gardens opened in July 2010
under the direction of Dougherty County with Georgia
DNR. The Butterfly Demonstration Garden is a
cooperative effort between Dougherty County, Albany
Technical College, and Southwest Georgia Master
Gardener Extension Volunteers from Baker, Clay,
Dougherty, Lee, Mitchell, Randolph, Sumter, Terrell, and
Tift counties.
For further reading, Skywater by Morgan G. Murphy
with Lamar Clifton provides a detailed history of
Radium Springs.
Proboscis
Head
Abdomen
Hindwing
Palamedes Swallowtail
Papilio palamedes
The larvae or caterpillars
have long soft bodies
equipped with six claw-like
legs in the front and five pairs of prolegs. They shed
their skin several times as they grow; these steps
of the development are called instars. They feed on
living plant tissues using powerful jaws and breathe
through spiracles on the side of their body.
Head
Compound Eyes
Thoracic legs
Anterior prolegs
Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes
Scales
Anal proleg
Spiracles

Monarch Butterfly Pollinator Gardens
Common Georgia Butterflies
Join us by welcoming Monarchs and other butterflies
into your garden, school, or workplace. It’s
easy! You can provide Monarchs with much needed
habitat while having a great time, enjoying the beauty
of a butterfly garden, and celebrating your accomplishments
with neighbors and friends. You can even
certify your garden with Monarchs Across Georgia!
Whether creating a large or small butterfly garden,
the guidelines are simple. Butterflies need water,
shelter, and food. Butterflies like to bask in full sun
and so flowers should be in the open, but sheltered
from wind. Including a large stone or some bare
earth for basking are great additions and shallow
water sources and some moist sand provide not only
water, but also important minerals. Wind and rain
can harm a delicate butterfly, so they need the leaves
of nearby trees and shrubs to shelter and protect
them. For food sources, butterflies need host and
nectar plants throughout the spring, summer, and fall
seasons. Milkweeds are the Monarch’s host plant and
they cannot reproduce without them. Some other
host plants for butterflies include maypops, parsley,
oaks, dogwood, redbud, and wild cherry. Butterflies
are attracted to large splashes of color and some
good nectar plants to consider are Black-eyed Susan,
butterfly bush, lantana, purple coneflower, salvia, and
zinnia. It is important to minimize the use of pesticides
around a butterfly garden and to leave some
leaf litter and brush for overwintering.
Migration Map courtesy of USDA
Monarch butterflies migrate south from Canada to
Mexico in fall and return north each spring, traveling at
least 2,000 miles each way.
Monarch butterflies need Milkweed (Asclepias) plants
to reproduce. A female Monarch butterfly will lay
300-400 eggs only on Milkweed, its host plant, because
Monarch caterpillars can only eat Milkweed. Without
host plants our butterflies can’t reproduce. Many native
plants which serve as host plants have been lost to
growth and development, so it is especially important
to plant native plants whenever possible.
Resources:
Bringing Nature Home, by Doug Tallamy
www.plantanative.com
Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia (EEA)’s
Monarchs Across Georgia (MAG) found at
www.eealliance.org
Viceroy
Limenitis archippus
Host: Carolina Willow
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus
Host: Sweet Bay, Wild Cherry
Monarch
Danaus plexippus
Host: Milk Weeds
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Palamedes Swallowtail
Papilio palamedes
Host: Red Bay, Swamp Bay.
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Common Buckeye
Junonia coenia
Host: False Foxglove, toadflax fam.
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Carolina Satyr
Hermeuptychia sosybius
Host: Various grasses
Question Mark
Polygonia interrogationis
Host: Sugarberry, American Elm
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Spicebush Swallowtail
Papilio troilus
Host: Spicebush, Red Bay
J F M A M J J A S O N D
White M Hairstreak
Parrhasius m-album
Host: Live Oak
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Tawny Emperor
Asterocampa clyton
Host: Sugarberry
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Zebra Swallowtail
Eurytides marcellus
Host: Various pawpaws
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Cloudless Sulphur
Phoebis sennae
Host: Partridge Pea, Sennas
J F M A M J J A S O N D
“The Incredible Journey”, PBS video, http://www.pbs.
org/wgbh/nova/nature/journey-butterflies.html
Southwest Georgia Master Gardeners
www.swgamastergardeners.com
Question Mark
Polygonia interrogationis
Butterfly Behaviors
Monarch
Danaus plexippus
Black Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes
Giant Swallowtail
Papilio cresphontes
The Monarch Butterfly Demonstration Garden project would not have been possible without the help of many people and
organizations. Special thanks to Ed Gartner. Ann Bruce and Tallahassee’s Apalachee Audubon Society for leading the way with
their Monarch Garden at St. Marks NWR and to Reinier Munguia, President of the Lake Region Audubon Society, for his help
with the design and production of this brochure. This brochure is made possible by a generous grant from the
Georgia Master Gardener Association, www.georgiamastergardeners.org.
Puddling
Male butterflies sip
minerals from wet sand
or soil, a process called
puddling. It’s believed
these minerals are essential
for successful
reproduction.
Butterflies are ectothermic,
which means they
cannot produce their
own heat. Instead, they
perch with their wings
outstretched on a sunny
spot.
Basking