Or, How Does a Red-spotted Purple
Spend the Winter?
Understanding the life cycle and natural history of resident butterflies in our wildlife gardens plays a more important role than you may think when it comes to decisions regarding maintenance and other garden tasks.
Many of the moths and butterflies we’ve attracted to our gardens spend the winter in the garden as an egg, a partially grown caterpillar, or a chrysalis. Many spiders and preying mantises lay egg masses that over winter too; the adults die as late fall arrives.
Red-spotted Purples prefer fruit to flower nectar, so I hang a dish of gooey fruit in the garden (spring through fall)
Red-spotted Purples are quite common in our garden from mid-June through late September. We have lots of Black Cherry trees (Prunus serotina) and have also planted Beach Plum bushes (Prunus maritima). Both are used as caterpillar host plants by this stunning butterfly.
On September 23, 2012, I watched one of the very last Red-spotted Purples in the garden. It danced around the Beach Plums and I thought it must be laying eggs. I looked closely at leaf after leaf, zeroing in on the very tip where Red-spotted Purples carefully lay their jewel-like egg, but could find none.
Going to Bed for the Winter
As I scrutinized the leaves, though, I suddenly spotted a treasure – a teeny-tiny caterpillar (@ 1/4 inch long) perched out near the end of a twisty, dead-looking bit at the end of a leaf. I stepped back from the Beach Plum, looked at the bush as a whole, and noticed other similar leaves with dead-looking extensions. Each one had a teeny-tiny Red-spotted Purple caterpillar on it, four all told.
I ran for the camera, knowing just what I’d found: Red-spotted Purple caterpillars preparing their winter hibernaculum, the place where they will safely winter as a partially grown caterpillar.
Every day thereafter I spent time searching for the caterpillars, hoping they’d survive. It was the peak of autumn migration and our little woodlot attracted flock after flock of hungry migrant songbirds. Each day I feared that my caterpillars would be gone, discovered and feasted upon by hungry birds.
Red-spotted Purple caterpillar creating its hibernaculum
Hibernaculum silked to the branch so in winter it will be one of the only remaining leaves on this Beach Plum bush
Completed HIBERNACULUM
Five days later, September 28, I found only two of the four caterpillars. Each of them had completed their hibernaculum and was hiding down inside. They’re still there, hopefully safe for the winter.
Come winter, Black Cherries and Beach Plums lose their leaves. Red-spotted Purple caterpillars silk the hibernaculum leaf closed and to the branch. When all the leaves fall these hibernaculums will be the only remaining leaves on the tree (or shrub) through winter, making hibernaculums a bit easier to spot.
Over the winter these tiny caterpillars could still succumb to a hungry bird inspecting every inch of every branch for a morsel. Overwintering caterpillars are just such a morsel. Heavy snowfall could snap off the twig supporting the hibernaculum. An ice storm coupled with strong winds could do the same.
In the Spring
If all goes well, by spring the overwintering, partially-grown caterpillar will emerge from the safety of its hibernaculum to feed as Beach Plums and Black Cherries leaf out.
Once full grown, the caterpillar will go into the next life stage, an amazingly camouflaged chrysalis (see below). About 12 to 14 days later the first generation of flying adult Red-spotted Purples will emerge from the chrysalis in mid-June in southern New Jersey. I can hardly wait.
Other Parts of the Red-spotted Purple’s
Life Cycle
Red-spotted Purple’s jewel-like egg laid at the very tip of the leaf
Camouflaged Red-spotted Purple chrysalis
I’ll be Looking Closely for More Hibernaculums This Winter
With the hibernaculum search image now intact, I’ll be looking more closely at each and every leaf bit still attached to Beach Plums and Black Cherries. Too, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that the tiny caterpillars will survive the winter and its many hazzards: hungry birds, heavy snow, ice storms and strong wind, as well as fussy, too-tidy gardeners.
Pat Sutton, of Cape May NJ, is an author and naturalist who has taught gardening for wildlife workshops and tours, for over 30 years, and is available to speak to your group or organization.
© 2012, Pat Sutton. All rights reserved. This article is the property of Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Pat Sutton
Superb post, good way to present the case. I think we also need to say “don’t cut down your garden in fall!” I’m already frustrated hearing folks talk of fall cleanup. Oy.
Benjamin recently posted..Garden Picture Time
Hi Benjamin, thanks so much for the high praise. One of my favorite posts about leaving the garden standing through winter is your very own “Winter Interest Shminterest.” Loved that piece (http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/winter-interest-shminterest/)! Oy indeed: fall clean up is certainly NOT for the birds, butterflies, spiders, and other garden visitors. I covered it too in my column, “Spring Cleanup, Don’t Overdo it” (http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/spring-cleanup-winter-garden/). I do find that we need to share the concept to “leave the garden standing through winter” again and again and again and again in as many different ways as possible because the opposite is SO ingrained in gardening mentality.
What amazing patience you have! To watch day after day, capturing each stage of this process with your wonderful photos. Having been there the day you discovered these caterpillars in your beautiful wildlife garden, I’m so thrilled to see they’ve safely made their winter homes and avoided the hungry flock of birds passing through. The fact that you found these caterpillars in the first place is a testament to your skill because they were TEENY!
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..Ecosystem Gardening Essentials
Hi Carole, teeny tiney and itsy bitst they were / are. Tickled I got to show them to you in person. Such a treasure in the Wildlife Garden to find and follow. To more discoveries shared! Thanks for making it possible through this great website.
Fascinating! Finally spied a red-spotted in my yard this week. I have black willow and Cherokee plum so they will be under inspection.
Hi Carole, inspect away and may you find some hibernaculums of your own. With host plants in your yard already, just add a dish of gooey fruit (bananas, peaches, pears, melon) and I’ll bet you’ll see them regularly. Good luck!
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
Wonderful and educational blog post/article Pat. Love reading it and learning as I further my new beginnings into the beauty and wonderment of butterflies. Thank you.
Hey Steve, another aspect of the natural world to explore and enjoy. Have fun with it.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
Pat, I feel so much smarter after reading your post! I knew some caterpillars overwinter in the garden but had no idea what to look for. I’ll be examining all the leftover leaves on my trees this winter.
Debbie recently posted..Wordless Wednesday ~ Feathery
Debbie, years and years ago I was shown a Red-spotted Purple hibernaculum. It took these many years to find one of my own. Good luck spotting some in your lovely garden.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
Pat, I appreciate the beautiful photographs and new information. We see red-spotted purples in the backyard – though never as many at one time as in your photograph. However, I did not know how they overwintered. I, too, will be looking for hibernaculums this winter. Thanks for sharing.
Betty Hall recently posted..October gardenscape
Betty, I can see a dish of gooey fruit (bananas, peaches, pears, melon) in your garden’s future. May you find hibernaculums in your lovely garden (love your October Gardenscape … WOW!).
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
FABULOUS essay Pat!! If I were to put out a plate of fruit as you do . . . the birds would be attacking all day long. I love the part about the little caterpillar and seeing it make its winter bed. I too hope it and many others survive the songbirds . . . but then I love the songbirds too. What are we to do . . . remain aloof I suppose . . . hard not to become attached to these precious critters. Wonderful images too Pat.
Carol Duke recently posted..Monarch Butterflies Wild About The Gardens
Carole, thank you so much! Regarding the dish of fruit, you might be surprised. Our yard is full of birds and the fruit dish does not play a role in their day . . . except for the hummingbirds that fly near the dish to feast on fruit flies. Love having a wealth of caterpillars in our yard due to the wealth of native trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and perennials . . . and love knowing that songbirds are finding plenty to feast on, with enough escaping detection to result in a garden full of butterflies by day and moths by night.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
Pat this post made me so happy as we planted a Black Cherry for the birds and now this butterfly I hope as it is also found in NY…
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..As The Blooms Fade
Donna, you’ll love your Black Cherry and all it attracts … a GEM of a native tree. Tickled that I brought a smile to your day.
Pat Sutton recently posted..Hibernaculum: Winter Home to Red-spotted Purple
Beautiful photos! This article is a solid educational experience, you have captured amazing stages of life of the cat that few get to see! Great job Pat!!!
I just asked our park management for permission to plant a Black cherry tree. I’m anxiously waiting for their response, hoping they will say yes.
Dee, I hope your park management agrees with you and OKs the planting of a Black Cherry tree. They’re tops on my list and benefit so many birds, and so many butterflies, moths and other pollinators. Thank you for your kind praise!
Pat Sutton recently posted..Invasives – Be Gone !