The yard has been flooded with monarch butterflies recently. And there are so many caterpillars of every instar roaming around the milkweed and chomping away. My butterfly weed, a native milkweed plant, which has grown rather big, is littered with eggs and tiny caterpillars. I wonder if the flowers will bloom before the caterpillars chomp them away.
I planted butterfly weed, a native member of the milkweed family quite a few months ago. I am happy to say I have had tons of success growing it in little grow pots in a screened enclosure.
Butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, refers to the knobby and swelling roots. The native milkweed can be found from “Maine, to South Dakota to the desert southwest to Florida,” according to the U.S. Forest Service.
I found it interesting that the butterfly weed has a watery, translucent sap, rather than the milky sap other varieties of milkweed have. In addition, I have read it does not transplant well, due to its deep woody taproot. I currently have all of mine in pots to see how they do. If I have success, I will definitely section off the garden and plant more seeds directly into the ground with a cover over them.
One of my plants has grown to a good size, while the others are still short. It has not flowered yet, but has beautiful green leaves. Today I spotted quite a few black eggs, which means it will soon be graced with monarch caterpillars, only enabling it to grow fuller and more beautiful once the chomping concludes.
I was ecstatic when I found the various stages of the ladybug on my milkweed. I am thrilled to see that the ladybugs have dispersed throughout the front garden and are now starting to mate. The more the merrier, as the aphids are still plentiful in the garden.
Have you ever wondered what the life cycle of a ladybug looks like? I was dumbfounded when I checked my giant milkweed last night in search for caterpillars and found these weird looking “bugs” all over the leaves. I took a few photos and sent it to one of my friends who works at an all native nursery who has a wealth of knowledge. She sold me my first butterfly plants. When she told me I had ladybug larva and pupa on my leaves I was completely giddy!
Nature is so incredibly cool when you slow down enough and look at what it produces.
I have had ladybugs appear on my milkweeds in the past, but I have never had the lifecycle appear. So, of course I went back out to the milkweed this morning and took photos and admired nature.
The lifecycle of the ladybug includes eggs, larva, pupa, young ladybug and the adult. I did not see any eggs on the first glance, but definitely saw many stages.
I have read that the female ladybug can lay anywhere from 10 to 50 eggs at a time. Four days later the larvae stage is entered. Just like caterpillars they also molt to enter into the next stage.
What I read is it takes a couple of weeks for the pupa stage. They will attach themselves to the either leaves, or twigs to go through metamorphosis, which can take three to 12 days. Ladybugs are yellow to begin with and have soft exoskeletons, making them easy prey. The young ladybugs also feed on soft insects.
I had no idea that an adult ladybug can live up to a year.
This female monarch butterfly sure was busy in the garden this morning and into the afternoon. The best part is she was not at all bothered by me watching. She flew very close many times as she fluttered in to land on a new leaf, both high and low. She must have landed on every leaf either resting, or leaving behind eggs.
My giant milkweed is slowly growing back, producing beautiful new growth, which is now covered in both monarch eggs and baby caterpillars. The cycle continues again. There are a few caterpillars in the butterfly house, two of which have already created its chrysalis. I have a feeling more are going to make its residence in the house soon.
