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Do you want to be a "Caterpillar Mama" and watch the magic of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly?

 

 

Here's what you'll need to get started:

  1. A container - it can be a critter keeper or aquarium.
  2. Paper towels - one for the bottom for easy cleaning and one under the top to prevent spiders from crawling inside or babies crawling out.
  3. Fresh caterpillar food - each species requires a particular plant.
    For example: Black swallowtails eat parsley, dill or fennel but Monarchs only eat milkweed.
  4. CATERPILLARS! Visit the BugLady's garden and adopt some!     

  Tips:

  1. Place your critter keeper away from direct sun or a/c vent.
  2. Once a day, check on your "children". Clean out the poop, place clean paper towel and their specific fresh plant food.
  3. Enhance your observation skills by watching your babies every day to see what they will do next.  Their schedule is: eat, poop, grow, molt then repeat, repeat, repeat.
  4. When you think your caterpillars are ready to pupate, place a few sticks in the container for them to attach their chrysalis.
  5. Caterpillars raised indoors do not have benefit of rain or dew.  Lightly mist the chrysalis with water so they won't dry out.
  6. When your butterfly hatches, offer it cut fruit slices, fresh flowers, or juice on a cotton ball. Release as soon as the wings are strong.
  7. Make a wish and release your butterfly into your garden near flowers!
  8. Be proud that you are now a butterfly farmer and have helped to enrich the ecosystem of your neighborhood!

 

 

 

 

Call 504-739-5715 or visit the BugLady at 6444 Jefferson Highway in Harahan- Monday through Friday 9:30-5pm.   

Is your garden ready for MONARCH MIGRATION? Check out the BugLady's list of available nectar and caterpillar host plants for May! 

Photo provided by Noah Simon. Caterpillars eat milkweed, their only source of food.

Plants available May 2020
Barber Laboratories
504-739-5715
6444 Jefferson Highway in Harahan
(Social distancing outside in backyard)
Monday thru Friday 9:30-5:00

 

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Item Size
Bee Balm - white (Monarda)  4"
Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) 4"
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) 1 gallon & 3 gallon
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)  4"
Clasping coneflower (Dracopis amplexicaulis)  4" pot & 6" round
Crabapple tree (Malus)  3 gallon
Eupitorium odoratum 1 gallon
Garden Phlox (Phlox panicullata) Robert Poore 6" round
Gulf Coast Penstemon (Penstemon tenuis) 4"
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica)  6" round
Ironweed (Vernonia)  6" round
Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)  4"
Lemon Bee Balm  (Monarda citriodora)        4"
Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus)  4"
Mistflower  (Conoclinium coelestinum) 4"
Mountain mint: Slender (Pynanthemum tenuifolium) Quart
Mountain Mint - Slender (Pynanthemum tenuifolium) 1 gallon
Mountain Mint - Big Leaf (Pynanthemum muticum)  6" round
Penstemon: White Wand (Penstemon tubaeflorus) 4"
Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirins) 4"
September Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) 4”, 6" & 1 gallon
September Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolia) 4 “, 6" & 1 gallon
Sweet Goldenrod (Solidago odora) 4"
Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)  6" &  1 gallon & 3 gallon

Caterpillar Host Plants

Item Size
Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora) (for Spicebush Swallowtails) 1 gallon
Cassia - "Candelabra" (Cassia alata) (for Sulphur butterflies) 6"
Cassia - "Partridge Pea" (Cassia fasciculata) (for Sulphur butterflies)  4"
Dill (for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Fennel - green or bronze (for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Hop Tree also called Wafer Ash (Ptelea trifoliata) (for Giant Swallowtail) 3 gallon
Lead Plant (Amorpha fruticosa)(for Silver Spotted Skipper & Dogface Sulphur) 4"
Milkweed: Aquatic- white flower (Asclepias perennis) (for Monarch) 4"
Parsley - curled or straight leaf (for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora incarnata) (for Gulf Fritillary) 1 gallon
Senna - (Senna corymbosa) (for Sulphur butterflies) 4”

 

Is your garden ready for MONARCH MIGRATION? Check out the Buglady's list of available nectar and caterpillar host plants for April! 

Plants available April 2020
Barber Laboratories
504-739-5715
6444 Jefferson Highway in Harahan
(Social distancing outside in backyard)
Monday thru Friday 9:30-5:00

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Item Size
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)  4"
Bee Balm - white (Monarda)  4"
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)  4"
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) 1 gallon & 3 gallon
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)  4"
Clasping coneflower (Dracopis amplexicaulis)  4" pot & 6" round
Crabapple tree (Malus  3 gallon
Eupitorium odoratum 1 gallon
Ironweed (Vernonia)  6" round
Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)  4"
Mountain mint: Slender (Pynanthemum tenuifolium) Quart
Mountain Mint (Pynanthemum muticum)  6" round
Penstemon: White Wand (Penstemon tubaeflorus) 4"
Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirins) 4"
September Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) 4”
September Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolia) 4 “
Sweet Goldenrod (Solidago odora) 4"
Virginia Willow (Itea virginica)  6" & gallon

Caterpillar Host Plants

Item Size
Cassia - "Candelabra" (Cassia alata) (for Sulphur butterflies) 6"
Cassia - "Popcorn" (Cassia didymobotrya) (for Sulphur butterflies)  1 gallon
Cassia -  Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) (for Sulphur butterflies) 4"
Dill (for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Fennel - green or bronze(for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Hop Tree also called Wafer Ash (Ptelea trifoliata) (for Giant Swallowtail) 3 gallon
Lead Plant (Amorpha fruticosa)(for Silver Spotted Skipper & Dogface Sulphur) 4"
Milkweed: Aquatic- white flower (Asclepias perennis) (for Monarch) 4"
Milkweed: Swamp- pink flower (Asclepias incarnata) (for Monarch) 4"
Parsley - curled or straight leaf(for Black Swallowtail) 4"
Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora incarnata) (for Gulf Fritillary) 1 gallon
Senna - (Senna corymbosa) (for Sulphur butterflies) 4”

 

 

Come join the BugLady of New Orleans who has been working in her 3 generation family business, Barber Laboratories where you can purchase pest-control products, but you can also visit the “Learning Room” where she raises live butterflies and moths. Linda has also been known as the Caterpillar Mama for over 40 years now and has raised 126 species of butterflies and moths, photographing and studying their life cycles.

Learn the different plants that the butterflies like and what you can do establish a garden for the butterflies! We will take a nature walk through the trails of the NNC where many wildflower seeds have been planted during Arbor Day Festivities.

Her mission statement is “I sell death for pests but promote life for the rest!”

Space is limited. Reserve your spot today!  Members Free, $5 for non-members
Memberships available at www.northlakenature.org/membership  or Call 985-626-1238 for details or email Rue@northlakenature.org

Sadly, I must report that all of my scheduled events to present "Caroline Dormon, Louisiana Pioneer Woman" have been cancelled until further notice.  It is my deepest wish and hope that soon our world's issues will calm down enough for me to reschedule some of them later in the year. 

A reminder that during this crisis, you can still order my "BugLady's Butterfly Summer" on my website or visit me at my retail store, Barber Laboratories, which remains open ( but practicing social distancing ).  All of the Caroline Dormon books are also in stock and ready for your reading pleasure.  

Looking for native plants to prepare for Monarch migration?  Check out my Linda Barber Auld Facebook page for a list of plants currently in stock.

The bottom line is stay calm, stay safe, stay positive. Take a walk in your garden and enjoy nature's sunshine!

HEY, NEW ORLEANS METRO AREA FOLKS! "Pest Control Take-Out" is available at my store located at 6444 Jefferson Highway in Harahan. Butterfly gardening plants are also being sold--at social distance-- outside in the backyard. My mission statement is "I sell death for pests but promote life for the rest!"

NOLA BugLady is still healthy and ready to help you solve your pest issue or to help you attract butterflies to your garden.

Barber Laboratories is a 3-generation family business that was established by my Grandfather, Ernest R. Barber, in 1921. My company is 99 years old!

Posted this morning on the Orleans Audubon Society website:

EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS:                                                                    CANCELLED: We will invite Linda back at a later date.  Linda Auld's presentation focuses on an amazing Louisiana pioneer woman, Caroline Dormon.  Discover who she was, what she accomplished, her wonderful books, and her beloved home, Briarwood in Saline, Louisiana. The first woman hired by the U.S. Forestry Service (1921), Dormon was instrumental in establishing the Kitsachie National Forest (1930).  Linda also hopes to promote awareness about the tornado that hit Briarwood last spring.  The Briarwood Nature Preserve needs volunteers and donations to help with restoration efforts.  Learn about Caroline Dormon's fascination with Louisiana's forests and native plants and how you can help            restore a part of her legacy.                                                                                                       Story of Caroline Dormon, "Louisiana Pioneer Woman" Speaker, Linda Auld                Date: Tuesday, March 17  Time: 6:30 pm social, 7:00 pm program                                  Location: Community Church Unitarian Universalist  6690 Fleur de Lis

MARCH 17, 2020

Story of Caroline Dormon, “Louisiana Pioneer Woman”
Public · Hosted by Orleans Audubon Society
 
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 6:30 PM
 
Orleans Audubon Society meeting

Community Church Unitarian Universalist - New Orleans

6690 Fleur de Lis Dr, New Orleans, Louisiana 70124