One of my favorite parts of gardening is the surprises that come along the way. Out of no where a morning glory vine began in one of my butterfly gardens, growing very well.
The flower blooms in the summer and fall and enjoys full sun. The color variety comes in blue, pink, purple, red and white. It is drought tolerant and can grow up to 10 feet in one season alone and enjoys climbing. It’s also a good self-seeding plant. This one popped up and intertwined with the corky stem passion vine and maypop passion vine.
This morning a monarch butterfly hatched in the butterfly house, but some how fell to the bottom of the house. Luckily I found it in time and put it on a branch, so it could continue to hang and perfect its wings. This one marks No. 207, or 39 monarch hatches for this month alone, in the butterfly house.
When the butterfly first emerges from its chrysalis the proboscis, the butterfly’s straw for sipping nectar, is in two parts. The butterfly will use its two palpi, which are located on either side of the proboscis, in order to create a singular tube.
My daughter and I began our first butterfly house on June 13, 2021. Since then the size and location has changed, but the raising of butterflies has not. On June 23, 2021 we had our first successful monarch butterfly hatch after raising it from caterpillar. Today, Aug. 22, we have successfully raised 200 monarch caterpillars, therefore releasing 200 healthy monarch butterflies into our butterfly garden.
It’s quite simple to raise caterpillars. All they need is a fresh source of their host plant, in this case milkweed, and a secure “house” to put them into. My husband built a wooden “house” and screened it and I put branches inside giving the caterpillars areas to climb, rest, molt, and on occasion create its chrysalis.
The monarch butterfly will hatch 10 to 12 days later. The transformation is incredible to witness as the green chrysalis eventually becomes translucent revealing the beautiful black and orange body within. The butterfly emerges headfirst with small and shriveled wings. As it pumps body fluid through its wings they grow in size. The butterfly will remain in the same spot for up to two hours drying its wings, hardening them getting ready for flight. According to Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, during the two hours it is also waiting for air to replace some of its fluids.
The cassius blue, Leptotes cassius theonus, is a tiny butterfly that has a wingspan of only 20-33 mm. The caterpillar is also small, as it reaches only .05 inches in length.
