On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:33:49 -0500, "Tony" wrote:

What can I do to induce them to bloom? Is there something different I
should have done with their care in the past or should do in the future?

I have mine in half barrel pots and they like a lots of fertilizer,
however, too much nitrogen may cause lots of leaves and no blooms
though. Fertilizers are made up of N P and K. Grass likes hight
(N) nitrogen, flowering plants like high (P) phosphates and everything
needs a bit of (K) potash to use the other two. Check the label on
the fertilizer you are using and see if the first number is higher
than the second, like 27-10-5 that would be a good lawn fertilizer,
but might cause lots of leaf growth and little blooms on flowering
plants.

I found my first Gulf Fritillary larvae this morning and didn't even
see the butterfly that laid the egg. It has been a bad year for
butterflies in my back yard, but I'm hoping for improvement.
Do you have Zebra longwings or Gulf Fritillary feeding on yours?

One year the larvae ate my passion flower (maypop) back to the ground
and it didn't have enough energy stored in the roots to come back in
the spring, so I have two now and feed them twice a months with
15-30-15 and sometimes as I pass with the granular (1-1-1 type) I
throw on the beds I add a bit of that too and have yet to over
fertilize, but I don't use high nitrogen fertilizer.

Regards,

Hal Zone 8 Middle Georgia