Caterpillars

I planted a passion vine in the back corner of the backyard.  It is a hearty plant that grows very quickly, but the caterpillars keep it in check! 

Gulf Fritilary  See those yellow dots on the leaves - I think they must be nectaries on the underside of the leaf because there will be ants lined up at each one.  The flower is only open during the shadier times of the day and wilts in open sun.  There are several different passion vines, this one has a medium sized white flower.

Crummy focus - these are zebra longwing.

The passion vine is also a host plant for Julia butterflies, but they are the least common of these three.

I'm not sure how it got there, but a milkweed grew up at the base of the passion vine.  It got very tall before it flowered and was the largest one I've grown.  (Although, I can't take much credit!)  We got a big generation of monarchs and that was the end of that!

It's been a very interesting corner of the yard, and I often found a kid with their nose in it just watching the caterpillars.