Wow! That's quite an assortment of butterflies in there! At MOSI we (pretty much) only stick to native butterflies so we don't always have that much diversity of species but it's a good way to start a conversation about planting natives. And we like to tell everyone that they are capable of attracting all the butterflies they see into their yard. Which is true, most of the time.
I'm too far south to grow the Pawpaw trees that grow in WV and your area (and most of the East Coast, I think). In Florida, we have Asimina species that are small bushes, growing about four feet high at most. Makes it much easier to catch caterpillars when you don't have to climb trees! Not that I can climb a tree, anyway (never could).
True story, when I was about ten or eleven we were visiting the grandparents in WV. Well, we're sitting on the porch and this butterfly lands on my brother's shoulder. And we're all "oohing" and "aahing" at how magical it is that it landed on him. And someone had a camera and took a picture. And you know what, that butterfly took a dump on my brother's shirt. I swear, it's the only time I've ever seen this happen in my life - and you guys know I've watched a LOT of butterflies. But out of its rear end came this substance like a clear gel which is I guess what butterflies excrete. And that's pretty much been a metaphor for my brother's entire life.
So Mom was up at Grandma's one year without me and took a bunch of digital photos of Grandma's photos for my genealogy files. And she finds this picture! So I zoom in real close and it was a Zebra Swallowtail that took a dump on my brother's shoulder. Check it out. My brother is on the left and you can see the butterfly on his right shoulder. Mom is in the middle wearing a butterfly T-shirt, oddly enough, and I have no idea which cousin that is on the right (I should probably ask Grandma). The only moment better than this involving butterflies and my brother was a couple of years ago when I had a Giant Swallowtail caterpillar gut purge just as he was walking by me and it totally grossed him out. I loved that caterpillar so much. It's like it timed it just for me. Can you tell my brother and I don't get along?
