Freederick County Offfice
3300 Montevue Lane
Freederick, Maryland 21702
TEL 301-600-1594
AX 301-600-1588
FA
ww
ww.frederick.umd.eedu
Butterfliies and Violets
V
Linda
L
Thomaas, Frederickk County Maaster Gardenner Intern
Until thiss summer vio
olets were a plague in thhe cultivatedd areas of myy garden. Unnder every
expandinng clump of the
t purple-fllowering plaants there weere hundredss of tiny seeddlings. The
violets evven prefer to
o grow mingled tightly with
w my pereennials. Likee most gardenners, I grubbbed
them out before they
y could take over.
o
As I was doing just th
hat one sweaaty day last August,
A
a Grreat Spangleed Fritillary butterfly
b
ntly settled among
a
them
m and began laying
l
her egggs. These are
a large
(Speyeriaa cybele) gen
butterfliees, orange wiith black spoots on their upper
u
wings and pretty silver
s
spots on
o the undersside
of their hind
h
wings. They
T
are am
mong my favoorite insects.. Clearly, vioolets have a role that I diidn’t
know aboout. I needed
d to learn moore.
utterflies feeed on at least a few diffeerent plants, but Great Sppangled
The larvaae of most bu
Fritillariees depend ex
xclusively onn several varrieties of vioolets, just as the more fam
mous Monarrch
butterfly caterpillars dine solely on
o various kinds
k
of milkkweed. Withhout violets, I learned, these
beautifull butterflies would
w
not deecorate our gardens.
g
Witth such a resstricted diet, their caterpiillars
are not garden pests, although vioolets do lookk tattered byy late fall. Thhe caterpillarrs feed at nigght
and craw
wl away from
m violets to hide
h during thhe day. Theyy are difficult to find, daark brown to
black witth black spin
nes that are orange
o
at thee base. Even with a flashhlight, I havee never foundd
one. But the butterfliies live in myy garden, annd my violetss are chewedd. I think it’ss a fair price to
pay.
These goorgeous butteerflies range coast to coaast from the southern edgge of Canada southwardd to
northern California th
hrough Coloorado and Neebraska to Virginia.
V
Theere are reportts that this raange
d as habitat iss lost to the North.
N
is shiftingg southward
Adult Grreat Spangled
d Fritillariess appear in thhe spring froom May to Juune, their maating seasonn.
Afterwarrd, the femalles go into hiiding until laate summer when
w
they reeappear to laay their eggss.
They are swift fliers, but you cann often get a good look at
a them feediing on floweer nectar. They
especiallyy like black--eyed susanss, our state flower.
fl
Eggs hatch in thee fall, and catterpillars
overwintter before pu
upating and emerging
e
as adults in thee late spring.. The pupae resemble
mottled, brown leavees. Fritillary caterpillars and pupae are
a as hard too find as the adults are haard
to miss.
Here in thhe Mid-Atlaantic we are fortunate to live within the
t overlappping ranges of
o the Great
Spangledd Fritillary an
nd the similaar but smalleer Meadow Fritillary
F
(Booloria bellonna). Meadow
w
Fritillariees also depen
nd on violetss, but they have
h
been seeen sampling other plantss from time to
t
time. Theey are activee from May to
t Septembeer and producce two or thrree broods. The
T caterpilllars
are purplle to black with
w brown sppines. The laast generatioon of caterpilllars overwinnters like theeir
larger rellatives.
University of Maryland
M
Extension progrrams are open to all citizzens without regard to raace, color, gender, disabiility, religion, age, sexuaal orientation, marital orr parental status, or natioonal origin.
Even after learning all this, I still don’t want violets to take over my garden. But I cannot be
without Fritillaries fluttering about all summer. My solution is an experiment, but I think it will
succeed. Since I am a strong believer in the work-reducing advantages of ground covers, I
decided that a large patch of violets will be perfect beneath some of my river birches. The trees
are away from the house so the chewed violet foliage won’t matter. Now when I grub violets out,
I replant them under the birches.
Better yet, I’ve come to see tattered violets as cheerful promises for next spring. I must admit,
though, that once in a while I scatter a little non-toxic (to pets and children) slug bait, just to
ensure that the violets are feeding only butterflies!
For more information about the Frederick County Master Gardener/Horticulture Program, visit
www.frederick.umd.edu/mg or call Susan Trice at the University of Maryland Extension
Frederick County office, (301) 600-1596. Find us on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/mastergardenersfrederickcountymaryland
University of Maryland Extension programs are open to all citizens without regard to race, color, gender,
disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, or national origin.