More eggs

A female monarch butterfly paid a visit to our front butterfly garden again this morning busy laying more eggs on almost every milkweed we have. By the end of the week we should have tons of baby caterpillars munching away.

Have you ever wondered how many eggs a female monarch butterfly can lay? As I was sitting in the garden watching the monarch find all the milkweed, I became very curious. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the monarch butterfly can lay between 100 to 300 eggs in her lifetime, which is amazing to me. When the eggs first hatch, the caterpillar is only one centimeter before reaching the final length of five centimeters, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

We had another monarch hatch this morning in our butterfly house. It sat on our hand all the way up the boardwalk to our beautiful penta, where it remained when we walked away.

Activity all around

Monarch caterpillars and butterflies, oh my.

Although we have butterflies year round in Southwest Florida, the abundance of caterpillars in our garden is truly incredible over the last month. Due to this, our butterfly house is very active with new butterflies emerging and caterpillars of various sizes.

For more information, photos, about monarch butterflies: visit my page: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/monarch-butterfly/?frame-nonce=337ab32fc1

Hungry, hungry caterpillar

A monarch caterpillar chowing down on a giant milkweed leaf.

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 hatch into a butterfly, continuing to protect them.

For more information about monarch butterflies: visit my page: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/monarch-butterfly/?frame-nonce=337ab32fc1

More than 100 released

Almost a year ago my husband built my daughter and I a butterfly house, which has transformed in shape and size. Our house is positioned on our porch, giving us a great view from our family room to watch.

We started putting milkweed plants in the butterfly house, so we could witness the various stages of the caterpillar. I can still remember when my daughter saw a chrysalis being made. The excitement that bubbled over . . . mesmerized.

We have seen the life cycle of six species of butterflies so far.

On May 3, 2022, three years since we started the butterfly garden, I released six monarch butterflies into our garden that we successfully raised. Those six released were numbers 99-104.

I still cannot put into words how special and magical it is to have a butterfly sit on your hand waiting to take its first flight.

For more information about monarch butterflies: visit my page: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/monarch-butterfly/?frame-nonce=337ab32fc1