I was gonna say Betsy, you know that Sulphur is laying eggs, right? Thanks for pointing it out, Ann. Betsy, is that a type of Cassia or Senna? The leaves look a little different than the species I'm used to seeing and I was curious. And if the butterflies are laying eggs, I'd say your "test" garden is passing with flying colors!
Meredith, here in FL Partridge Pea is mostly used by Sleepy Orange caterpillars. They seem to arrive about the same time the plant blooms - summer and fall. I didn't know the other plant you mentioned so I looked it up and saw it was in the Carrot family. That made me wonder if Black Swallowtails would use it for a host. I found this interesting article about what Black Swallowtails used before we imported herbs like dill, parsley, fennel, etc.
http://www.ecosystemgardening.... The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center says it is a host for the Black Swallowtail:
http://www.wildflower.org/plan... Also, it appears to be a host for something called the Missouri Woodland Swallowtail or Ozark Woodland Swallowtail but it doesn't seem like you'd get those out your way. But let us know if you get Black Swallowtails on it! That would be so cool to see them using a native plant instead of the usual ones we're used to.
