Our favorite garden place had a sale on passion flowers, so we planted three in the new raised bed my husband built. Passion flowers have amazing structure, are host plants to several butterflies, and some varieties are actually native to this area. The fruits are also edible.

I believed that planting a host plant would mean we would get more butterflies. We saw some beautiful orange caterpillars with striking black spikes, which iNaturalist says are Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. I was so excited!

Then they ate all the leaves. All of them. On all three vines. They even broke open one of the fruits and ate most of that when the leaves were gone. I don’t know if the passion vines are going to survive.

Then I see the caterpillar on the fence hanging upside down and starting to form a chrysalis. I really do hope the vines can recover, because it is wonderful to watch the life cycle.

I will leave the vines be until next spring, hoping!