Category Archives: Monarch butterfly

They are back

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The warm weather and sunny skies has sure brought the butterflies back to the garden again.

Since Easter, the monarch population has grown leaps and bounds in the butterfly garden. The caterpillars are on both my balloon milkweed, and giant milkweed, in various instars.

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.

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.

As the yellow, black and white stripped caterpillar eats the milkweed leaf it continues to grow and molts its old skin, splitting it in half. The caterpillar often consumes the skin before continuing eating the milkweed leaf. It can grow in length to 2″.

One of my favorite parts about having a butterfly garden is finding where the caterpillars end up making their final destination. The chrysalis below was found on my watering can, a good distance, but not too far away at the same time. 

The monarch butterfly resting on red penta, a favorite nectar plant for many species of butterflies.

A mating pair

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This morning the butterfly garden was busy with lots of fluttering wings of many different species. There were two butterflies that caught my attention on top of a giant milkweed. Before I knew it they landed on my Bahama cassia plant located very close by.

It was absolutely fascinating to watch the mating process right in front of my eyes of two monarch butterflies.

I have read that mating monarchs can remain together for 16 hours or longer. It’s not until the very end of their attachment that the sperm is transferred to the female. The fertilization of the egg does not occur until right before the egg is laid on the host plant, milkweed.

During mating, the male will use its claspers located on the end of its abdomen, to attach to the female’s ostium bursa.

Be sure to check out the many videos I was able to capture.

Determination

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The last few days I have been watering newly planted milkweed, as the heat is extreme,  and the rain has not been falling as often. The best time to do this is about an hour before the sun goes down.

It appears this is the best time to stroll through the garden, as the last few days there have been monarchs feasting on nectar. Tonight’s dinner, the nectar of a Mexican sunflower.

I loved watching this monarch’s determination of extending its proboscis, finding the opening of the flower, and sipping the nectar.

The best things happen when you slow down enough to witness nature at its finest.

A new lifecycle

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I have recently planted an abundance of milkweed for the monarch butterflies.

I now have two giant milkweed that stand at least 7 feet tall, four butterfly milkweed plants, two whorled milkweed plants and two balloon milkweed plants. It was important to me to offer a variety, kind of as an experiment to see which one they prefer to lay their eggs.

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.

The last fewdays I have noticed holes in my giant milkweed leaves, signaling that the baby monarch caterpillars have arrived!

Sure enough, I spotted quite a few strolling along on the leaves.

There are four stages in the life cycle of a monarch butterfly: the egg, the larvae (caterpillar) the pupa (chrysalis) and the butterfly.

A zinnia meal

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It’s that time of year when the only good time to work in the garden is very early in the morning, or about an hour before the sun goes down.

There was a male monarch butterfly that followed me around the garden feasting on the nectar of many different colored zinnias. It loved the white and the orange flowers.

The zinnia is a wonderful flower to add to a butterfly garden. Butterflies of every species loves the nectar. The best part is it is among the easiest plants to grow. The best part is it constantly produces more seeds to continue a steady new growth in the garden.

It was rewarding to spend time in the garden, as we both co-existence almost side by side.