Hi Everybody!!
To have butterflies for Halloween, You need to plant a Butterfly Garden! Fall is the natural time of year for butterflies to migrate. October has always been a banner butterfly month around here. This year there are very few. I encourage You all to plant the wildflowers the butterflies feed on and lay eggs. I have shared info below from Wikipedia about Butterfly Gardens.
Also, info on 2 butterflies:
Gulf Fritillary and Queen.
Enjoy!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_gardening

Butterfly gardening

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Butterfly gardening is a growing school of gardening, specifically wildlife gardening, that is aimed at creating an environment that attracts butterflies, as well as certain moths, such as those in the Hemaris genus. Butterfly gardening is often aimed at inviting those butterflies and moths to lay eggs as well. Because some plants are not fed upon by adult butterflies, the caterpillar host should also be planted for a bigger population of butterflies. Butterflies typically feed on the nectar of flowers, and there are hundreds of suchplants that may be planted to attract them, depending on the location, time of year, and other factors. In addition to the planting of flowers that feed butterflies, other means of attracting them include constructing ¨butterfly houses¨, providing sand for puddling, water, and other resources or food items, including rotten fruit.

Reasons for butterfly gardening[edit]

Some people only like to look at the butterflies, while others like to take pictures as well. Others try to help the butterfly population by planting native plants which rare or threatened butterflies feed on.^[1] Done correctly, butterfly gardening can increase the populations of butterflies.^[2] Many butterflies are becoming less abundant as a result of habitat destruction and fragmentation, and they do not feed on the plants regularly found in gardens. Others may also help in tagging monarch butterflies, which helps scientists monitor the monarch population and their migratory routes. Butterflies also serve as flower pollinators and attracting the butterflies can also assist in the pollination of nearby plants. Typically, flowers of plants that attract butterflies also attract other insect pollinators.

Problems[edit]

Butterflies have many predators, including mantids, wasps, spiders, birds, ants, true bugs, and flies in the Tachinidae family. If these predators are becoming a problem, they can be controlled with traps rather than pesticides, which may also kill butterflies and theirlarvae. There are also diseases that afflict butterflies, such as bacteria in the Pseudomonas genus, the Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus, and Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, which only infects queen butterflies and monarch butterflies.

In the absence of pesticides, aphids and true bugs may infest plants. Aphids can be controlled by releasing ladybugs (Ladybirds) and other biological pest control agents that do not harm butterflies. Another method of control is by spraying the plants with water, or rinsing plants with a mild dish detergent/water solution (although caterpillars should be relocated before suds are applied). Scented detergents are fine, those containing Oxyclean should be avoided. The aphids will turn black within a day, and eventually fall off.

With small home butterfly gardens, it is common for the larvae to exhaust the food source before metamorphosis occurs. Gardeners of Monarch butterflies will often replace the expended milkweed with a slice of pumpkin, which serves well as a substitute source of food.

Butterfly-attracting plants[edit]

Research should be conducted as to what species are prevalent in your area, and what plants they prefer to nectar on. Depending on your zone, some butterfly attracting plants include: purple cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea), yellow cone flowers, sunflowers,marigolds, poppies, cosmos, salvias, some lilies, asters, coreopsis, daisies, verbenas, milkweed (especially for the Monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars feed solely on this plant), the butterfly bush (also called buddleia), zinnias, and others.^[3]

In addition to expanding the number of species seen in your yard, provide host plants that feed the caterpillars. This is just as important as planting flower beds with nectar-rich blooms.^[4]

Gulf Fritillary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae. It was formerly classified in a separate family, the Heliconiidae or longwing butterflies, and like other longwings this species does have long, rather narrow wings in comparison with other butterflies. It is not closely related to the true fritillaries. It is the only member of genus Agraulis.

Gulf Fritillary

Upperside

Underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Tribe:	Heliconiini
Genus:	Agraulis (Boisduval & Le Conte, 1835)
Species:	A. vanillae
Binomial name
*Agraulis vanillae* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description[edit]

The Gulf Fritillary is a medium to large butterfly, with a wingspan of 6–9.5 cm (2.4–3.7 in). Its underwings are buff, with large silvery spots.^[1] It takes its common name from its migration over the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf Fritillary is commonly seen in parks and gardens, as well as in open country. Its range extends from Argentina north through Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbeanto the southern United States, as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area on the west coast. It is occasional farther north.^[2]

Larva[edit]

The larva is a caterpillar which grows to approximately 4 cm (1.6 in) in length. It is bright orange in color and covered in rows of black spines. The spines are soft to the touch and do not sting, but the larva is poisonous if eaten. The larva feeds exclusively on species ofpassionflower, such as maypop (Passiflora incarnata), yellow passionflower (P. lutea), and running pop (P. foetida).

Black and Orange stripes warn predators of the toxicidity of the caterpillar which protects it from predators.^[3] Many birds avoid it.^[4] Some specialized insects such as paper wasps and pragmatists have been observed feeding on it, however, and larger caterpillars sometimes eat smaller ones. This species belongs to the "orange" Batesian mimicrycomplex.

The chrysalis is approximately 3 cm (1.2 in) long. It is mottled brown and looks like a dry leaf.

The cultivation of passionflowers has enabled the Gulf Fritillary to extend its range, into California, for example.

Chrysalis[edit]

When the time comes for the caterpillar to create its chrysalis it turns a greyish color and begins to spin a silk-like substance into a ball on top or against a malleable surface. It then attaches its rear end to the "silk" lump and hangs upside down in a "j" position. by small contractions of the muscles it begins to shed its skin and head revealing a soft pinkish tan form. Quickly the soft form hardens and becomes greyish brown. The chrysalis stays in this form for eleven to twenty-one days. After that period of time, a small crack begins to form at the tip of the chrysalis revealing the butterfly's head. It continues to slowly move down through the bottom of the chrysalis until its legs are free to cling onto the shell of the chrysalis and pull itself the rest of the way out. Much like the Monarch butterfly, it begins to pump the fluids from its bulging abdomen into its shriveled wings. When its wings are fully expanded it releases excess fluids from its abdomen. for the next ten to fifteen minutes it stays still and allows its wings to dry. Finally it fans its wings out and takes flight.

Link to your photostudy-
Fall Flowers for the Butterfly Garden:
https://plus.google.com/photos/117645114459863049265/albums/5939258908125826321

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(butterfly)

Queen (butterfly)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (the brush-foots) with a wingspan of 70–88 mm (2.8–3.5 in). It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots in a black border. The male has a blackandroconial scent patch on its dorsal hindwings.

This species is possibly a close relative to the similarly-colored Soldier Butterfly (or "Tropic Queen"; Danaus eresimus); in any case, it is not close to the Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) as was long believed. There are about 10 recognized subspecies.^[2] As with other North American Danaus species, it is involved in Müllerian mimicry with the Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) where the two co-occur.

Queen

Conservation status
Secure (NatureServe)^[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Tribe:	Danaini
Genus:	Danaus
Species:	D. gilippus

...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek. See You next time. Get started on your Butterfly Garden! Also my Gardening Friends--we need to plant many trees and get many people to plant many trees. Sow many seeds. The only way to restore the Earth and Climate is to replant all that have been destroyed by fire, drought and humans. Some people are stepping up to the plate on this issue-but not enough. You will not get paid. You will not be honored. No one is going to come in and do it for you. And no one will know if You do it or not! So be like me and do it for one reason only: because *You Can* and together we can make a difference on this planet! I hope You all will dig in the dirt, watch your trees and flowers grow, and the butterflies Fly!