A female Baltimore Checkerspot will lay a single layered patch of one hundred to five hundred eggs on the underside of a turtlehead leaf. Egg laying takes a day or two and provides a good opportunity for close observation and photography. After hatching, the caterpillars feed in a communal web until about half grown, and then those that have survived move into the leaf litter to wait for the spring, when they will resume feeding. If you live reasonably close to an established colony, the chances are quite good that your turtlehead will nurture some of these orange and black beauties. A group of several plants will be more readily found by the Baltimores and, in flower, will be visually attractive to humans.
Seeds require cold stratification.
This is most easily accomplished by planting seeds in the fall. The plants are perennials and should flower at the end of their second summer. They will tolerate a variety of moist garden situations, but prefer rich wet soil. If you don't have a wet area, scoop out an area shaped like a shallow saucer and periodically flood it in dry weather. Sources Prairie Moon Nursery, Rt.