Native Pollinators in Your Garden FROM LEFT: MARY KEIM, TARYN EVANS, ADAM SKOWRONSKI Zebra Longwing butterflies arriving to roost for the night. They'll roost in plants and on Spanish Moss. Zebra Longwing chrysalis on Corkystem Passionflower (Passiflora suberosa) vine, the butterfly's host plant. Its dead leaf appearance reminds us not to be so anxious to clean up our garden. ZEBRA LONGWING BUTTERFLIES The Zebra Longwing is our state butterfly. It is a medium sized butterfly that can be easily lured to your pollinator garden by planting its native host plants, like Maypop and Corky-stem Passionflower vines. Its preferred wild habitats are hammocks and forested areas, so if you have trees that provide shade, so much the better. For a butterfly, the Zebra Longwing displays some unusual behaviors. For one, it not only sips nectar at flowers, it will also eat pollen. It is also a social butterfly and will seek out places in the evening where it can roost with other Zebras, frequently using the same perch night after night. Leafcutter Bee on Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), a great native plant for ponds. LEAFCUTTER BEES Like Sweat Bees, Leafcutter Bees are mostly solitary. The female bee nests alone, gathering pollen and laying eggs in a nest site that she will eventually seal off to predators. She seals these chambers with bits of leaves she has cut from a plant, thus her common name. Because she is not part of a colony, with no queen or live young to protect, the female solitary bee is non-aggressive and unlikely to sting as she doesn’t recognize you as a threat. Leafcutter bees typically nest in dead wood or hollow stems, but will readily use manmade nest structures. Because the different species range in size from small to medium in size, a variety of flowers may be visited. 8 GUIDE FOR REAL FLORIDA GARDENERS FALL 2016-2017 FANN / Florida Association of Native Nurseries
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