swallowtail butterfly Archives - Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Everything you wanted to know about Butterflies, but didn’t know who to ask.

Leave a Comment • Educational Topics • By Tony Avent • February 23, 2026

On Tuesday this week, our staff entomologist, Bill Reynolds, will present an on-line presentation exploring the amazing world of Butterflies and Moths. Bill, who in his previously life, worked as an entomologist for the NC Museum of Natural Science, has spent a lifetime traveling the world to study butterflies. Bill not only has an encyclopedic

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Crazy as a Fortune

Leave a Comment • Plant Spotlight • By Tony Avent • August 8, 2024

Agastache ‘Crazy Fortune’ is putting on an incredible show in our garden during summer, bringing in an array of both native bees and butterflies. This Eastern Yellow Swallowtail was enjoying it’s visit so much, it didn’t mind posing for a quick photo op. This pollinator magnet is one of the easiest agastaches to grow in

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NC’s State Butterfly Nectaring Exotic Plants; Photos Show!

North Carolina’s official state butterfly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly has been photographed nectaring non-native plants (otherwise known as exotic-plants). It’s not clear if there will be an uprising to renege its status as NC’s state butterfly, replacing it with another species of butterfly which only visits native plants. Gardeners on the other hand can

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Swallowing Stokesia

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By Tony Avent • July 4, 2022

This is the time of year when the tiger swallowtails feast on our many patches of the amazing native Stokes aster. Our favorite clone is the upright growing Stokesia laevis ‘Peachie’s Pick’. Moist soils are best, but stokesia tolerates some dry conditions on a short term basis as long as it has 2-6 hours of

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Tiger by the Tongue

1 Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By Tony Avent • March 27, 2022

What a lovely color echo we caught this week at JLBG when the tiger swallowtails were visiting Mertensia virginiana (Virginia Bluebells). Remember that botanical diversity results in more pollinators in the garden.

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Cooking up a Joe-Pye

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By Tony Avent • September 8, 2021

We wanted to create a buffet for local butterflies by our patio, and a mass planting of Eupatorium purpureum ‘Little Red’ did just the trick. Not bad for a highway ditch native.

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Plundering Pipes

Leave a Comment • Plant images from the garden and nursery, Plant Spotlight • By Tony Avent • August 30, 2021

The Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are munching away on any aristolochia (pipevine) in sight. This week, their favorite in the garden is the stunning Aristolochia fimbriata. Nature has created a wonderful balance where the catepillars each just enough to survive and grow, but not enough to damage the plant, which will quickly re-flush.

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