Category Archives: Monarch butterfly

Easy to spot

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The coloring of a monarch caterpillar has become easier to spot amongst all the vegetation.

I continue to have a burst of caterpillars go through the lifecycle, and then a break happens, allowing the balloon milkweed a chance to grow back, before it starts all over again.

I also have two giant milkweed in the garden, probably pushing 7 feet tall, and butterflyweed, so there is a plethora of food sources for them.

I hope in the coming months to continue to add more Southwest Florida native milkweed  to their space.

Tonight while walking through the garden I spotted a monarch caterpillar in its “j” form on my candlestick cassia, a neighboring plant to the milkweed. There were still droplets of rain on the caterpillar.  Hopefully, I can watch it make its chrysalis in the morning.

As I continued to walk through the garden, I spotted another monarch caterpillar crawling on one of the many sage plants. It seemed to be trying to find its spot to make its chrysalis.

Here are a few newly emerged monarch butterflies from the garden, as well as some visitors enjoying the nectar.

Green and gold

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It was a quiet winter in the butterfly garden with the cold snaps we experienced here in Southwest Florida.

Althought the mornings start off with a slight chill in the air, by mid morning, definitely going into afternoon, the temperatures sure heat up bringing the butterflies fluttering into the garden.

I have had a butterfly garden for almost six years now – the thrill never gets old. Every day I walk through the garden in hopes of finding eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalis.

Lately, the hunt has been really easy as there are many caterpillars – monarch, gulf fritillary, polydamas swallowtail, and orange barred sulphur – right now on their various host plants.

The monarch caterpillars seem to mulitple as the days of the week go by.

There are many monarch caterpillars in every instar on the various milkweed throughout the garden. My two newly planted balloon milkweed have been a favorite.

The chrysalis are appearing as well, some on leaves, some roaming the perimeter of my house.

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.