It’s not often the white penta’s have visitors, but this male monarch butterfly was going to town on sipping tons of nectar. It gathered some pollen through his travels too.
Penta
Featured
Reply
A busy monarch
A few months ago, I added three asclepias tuberosa, orange butterfly milkweed, to my garden for the first time. I have three varieties in the garden now, which also include balloon milkweed, and giant milkweed. I will definitely be adding additional native milkweed to the garden to help the monarch butterfly population thrive in Southwest Florida.
The monarch butterflies are beautiful to watch as they flutter about the garden. This female spent a lot of time going from the milkweed to various nectar sources before returning to lay eggs.
The monarch butterfly’s scientific name is Danaus Plexippus, which means “sleepy transformation” in Greek. The male has two black spots in the center of its lower wings and are larger in size than the female. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the spots are scent glands, which help the males attract females.
She left quite a few eggs on the milkweed plant.
The monarch caterpillars feed solely on milkweed leaves, which produces glycoside toxins, according to the National Wildlife Federation, which deters other animals from eating the caterpillars. The toxins are stored making them taste bad and remains after they emerge into a butterfly, continuing to protect them.
There are four stages in the life cycle of a monarch butterfly: the egg, the larvae (caterpillar) the pupa (chrysalis) and the butterfly.
After the butterfly lays a cream colored egg on the bottom of a milkweed leaf, it takes anywhere from three to five days to hatch. The larvae chews a small hole in the egg to wiggle free. Once it emerges it consumes the rest of the egg before moving onto the leaf.
Once she finished laying eggs, she rested on a tree nearby, an orange jasmine.
Great activity
Mornings are a great part of the day to walk through the garden and admire all the butterflies fluttering about.
The monarch butterfly could not get enough of nectar from one of the fire bush plants. It was awsome to watch its head disappear into the opening of the flower grabbing as much nectar as possible through its proboscis.
The polydamas swallowtails were also active, with three of them fluttering about. They were finding both its host plants, birthwort pucgured below, and stops on nectar plants throughout the entire length of the garden.
And of course it would not be complete without the active gulf fritillaries.
These guys are fun to watch, as they chase off many other species of butterflies while stopping on its favorite plants, porterweed.
Butterfly gardening has become such an amazing passion of mine. Who would have thought the saying “plant them and they will come” would continue to draw my excitement and attention almost 7 years later?
Hidden
I had a huge influx of polydamas swallowtail caterpillars last month on my birthwort and Dutchman pipevine plants, their host plants.
The polydamas swallowtail lay their eggs in clusters, so the population can grow pretty quickly.
The polydamas lays yellow to orange eggs in clusters of 10 to 14, which can typically be spotted on newly developed stems, or growing tips. The butterfly tends to lay its eggs on the tips that are in sunny areas, although the caterpillars have a higher survival rate in the shade.
As they grew in size they all started to disappear in the garden, and yes on the side of the house, to make their chrysalis.
I was excited to spot a newly emerged polydamas swallowtail butterfly tucked in my golden rod plant this morning.
It’s always fascinating to find where the chrysalis end up. Often times I don’t spot them until the butterflies have emerged.
One of my favorite things about this butterfly is the speed of the wings. They are constantly fluttering when sipping on nectar, or laying eggs. Here is a polydamas swallowtail enjoying nectar from my fire bush plant.
A meal together
My garden finally has an abundance of polydamas caterpillars chowing down on a few different host plants – the Dutchman pipevine and birthwort. The butterfly is now visiting my garden on a daily basis. Good thing I have its host plant in a few different places and some of them have an abundance of leaves to feed the caterpillars.
The polydamas, also known as the gold rim swallowtail, tailless swallowtail and scientific name Battus polydamas lucayus, lays its eggs on the Dutchman pipe. This is the only swallowtail that lacks the tails at the base of the secondary wings, according to the University of Florida.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars feed in groups when they are small, devouring the youngest leaves, as well as flowers before moving onto the older portions of the plant.
The caterpillar will go through four instars, 19 to 24 days, before it’s ready to form its chrysalis. The colors of the caterpillars are a bit different during the first instar, with tan and small tubercles. Once the caterpillar molts into the second instar, they become dark brown with larger tubercles.
They have a black head, prothorax top is orange and short dark stripes. Once the caterpillars enter the third instar, the caterpillar becomes smoother with a glossy appearance.
Never gets old
The emergence of a new butterfly will never grow old. It’s truly fascinating the transformation that takes place in a few short weeks from caterpillar to butterfly once a chrysalis is formed.
I have begun to work in the garden as often as I can early in the morning – from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for a few reasons – the Southwest Florida sun is not unbearable yet and the activity that takes place is literally a breath of fresh air. It is a calming, and relaxing way to start a new day and great way to keep weeds under control and paths walkable.
Over the last week, or so, I have witnessed quite a few monarch butterflies emerge, something you never take for granted. It always makes me slow down and watch, grateful that I was granted with the opportunity to witness it once again.
There are a slew of photos of the monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, as well as a video showing the entire experience I witnessed below.
