Passionflower Vines are the Only Game in Town for Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars

I realize I'm starting my Nurture Native Nature blog by writing a handful of posts on the same subject. I’m a bit obsessive so thoroughness is part of my style, but in this case, it’s intentional. I have so much to say about passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata) because it’s helped me understand the importance just one plant can have on our local ecoystem - and hopefully it will help anyone who is just starting out gardening for nature, not man.

The only leaf the gulf fritillary caterpillars will eat is from Passiflora species. In this case it's purple passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata).

If you want to add a vine to your landscape with the goal to have a big habitat impact plant the host plant for gulf fritillary caterpillars: native passionflower species. In Atlanta this means Passiflora incarnata or lutea. I'm profiling Passiflora incarnata here.

My native passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata) offers a feast for gulf fritillary caterpillars, can you see all four?

This means the impact of planting passionflower vine will directly nurture the abundance and survival of gulf fritillary butterflies in your area. The most important thing to look for when buying a passionflower vine is to find a native passionflower species (Passiflora incarnata or lutea) from a native plant nursery, NOT one of the tropical passionflower hybrids found at traditional nurseries. A gulf fritillary may still lay its eggs on a non-native vine (common non-native names are passiflora caerulea or biflora), but the caterpillars (cats) will die because they can’t eat the tropical vines.

Gulf fritillary butterfly resting on a coneflower (echinacea) seedhead in the fall

I can promise the gulf fritillaries will find a passionflower vine if it's planted in a chemical free yard (any kind of pesticides used in the yard will kill the butterflies and their cats) and there are other native nectar plants for the butterflies. From mid summer until early November gulf fritillary butterflies are dancing around my rewilded Atlanta yard every day creating generations of cats munching away on my Passiflora incarnata. If everyone planted just one passionflower vine somewhere on their property, imagine what an enchanting sight it would be to see orange gulf fritillaries flitting from yard to yard from August until November!