Vanessa atalanta, Red Admiral

This is a truly colorful butterfly, with orange bands and white dots and about a 2” wing span, that will sun itself on a leafy plant in the garden. It is a “strong flyer” and it is migratory as well. It spends winters in Italy and summers in the UK and thousands have been seen flying high in the sky propelled by wind currents.

As far as butterflies go, it is a fast in flyer. The first time it flew in a temperate Zone 9 garden was in late March in between spring rain storms. Chances are this creature had hibernated locally over the winter months as it was too early for it to have emerged from a local pupa. Hibernal diapause refers to a state of suspended development of the insect, not a suspended state of sleep. Besides, Vanessa atalanta is not known to go into diapause. The Red Admiral has been observed in all but five states in the continental US.

Listed below are the 18 specific plant species contained in the master database. Taraxacum officinale is weedy (and beloved by many butterflies). The Red Admiral, while visiting the Zone 9 garden, nectared on Pittosporum tobira - a spring blooming aromatic shrub that is a new entry to the master database. The remainder, all of which are listed on the left panel, are genera with many different species in cultivation. Many of these genera contain native plants that appeal to the Red Admiral. Of these, two contain invasive species*, namely, Lantana camara and Scabiosa atropurpurea.

1. Asclepias syriaca
2. Buddleja davidii
3. Coreopsis lanceolata
4. Cynara cardunculus
5. Echinacea purpurea
6. Echium vulgare
7. Eupatorium wrightii
8. Gomphrena globosa
9. Limonium perezii
10. Medicago sativa
11. Pittosporum tobira
12. Plumbago auriculata
13. Prunus mexicana
14. Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides 
15. Symphyotrichum puniceum
16. Tagetes lemmonii
17. Taraxacum officinale
18. Trifolium pratense

The Public Domain close-up photograph shown here was taken Dr. Thomas G. Barnes of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The other image documents its mid-March presence in a local garden.

*per USDA Plants, Cal IPC, and the state of California.