Category Archives: Monarch butterfly

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.

Newly emerged

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You ask, why should you plant a butterfly garden? Oh my goodness, the reasons are endless. I could probably come up with a quick 20 reasons without giving it much thought.

I will highlight one – seeing new life in the garden. Why, you ask? Because you watch the butterflies laying eggs, then the caterpillars  eat and grow, eat and grow before they disappear. Sometimes I can find their chrysalis, while other times cannot.

So, when I walk out into the garden and see a butterfly drying its wings, it brings me so much happiness, especially when I did not know a chrysalis was nearby.

Here are two monarch butterflies that emerged in my Southwest Florida garden this week.

Butterlfies appear  . . .

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Butterflies appear when angels are near.

It never fails there is always a butterfly that emerges on a big day for my daughter. Today we had two.

Nature at its finest.

We had two butterflies emerge today, an orange barred sulphur (81) and a monarch butterfly (639). 

Fly free . . .

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We have had a great amount of rain yesterday and today and my garden is looking beautiful!

I had four butterflies emerge this morning in iur butterfly house, 3 monarch butterflies (now totaling 637 released) and one orange barred sulphur butterfly (now totaling 80 released).

The clouds finally parted, the rain stopped, and three of the four have been released.