Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: New to Dave's Garden, 1 by MissSherry

MissSherry wrote:
Hi y'all!
I'm Sherry, and I just signed up as a registered member of Dave's Garden.
I'm a huge butterfly/caterpillar enthusiast! I live on 5 1/2 acres of mostly wooded property in southeast Mississippi, in the country halfway between Hattiesburg and Gulfport. There are lots of natural host (and nectar) plants in my woods, plus many I've added, especially in my garden.
Right now I'm raising palamedes and spicebush swallowtails, one American lady, and sweetbay silkmoths - I've got lots of red admiral, American lady, sleepy orange and red-spotted purple chrysalids yet to emerge, plus two zebra swallowtail chrysalids and one luna moth cocoon. I've recently released nine giant swallowtails, sixteen American ladies, one red admiral and one palamedes swallowtail. One (or more) of my recent giant swallowtail releases has been laying eggs on my orange tree and rue bushes, so I'll undoubtedly be bringing at least some of them in to raise myself. By "in" I mean my front porch, which is full of reptarian/caterpillar cages.
This is the first year I'm without pipevine swallowtails, and I sure do miss them!
I love to talk butterflies, caterpillars, and hummingbirds. I've got four hummer feeders going now, and I'll probably increase that number soon, because so many are draining the feeders so quickly. I'm seeing many juvenile looking ruby-throats, some with a spot or two of red on their throats. Birds of all types are plentiful here as well.
I hope to get to know all of you!
Sherry