The orange barred sulphur butterflies have been super busy in the garden the last few days. This one continuously stopped and deposited eggs on my bahama cassia tree, which will soon be crawling with caterpillars.
Busy beauty
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Tag Archives: butterflies
On the lookout
With the sun shining and temperatures warm, I decided to do some maintenance in the garden. My scorpion tail bush has grown out of control, into the sidewalk, as well as popping up in the most random places, so I decided to do a little trimming.
With my 7 year olds watchful eye, she noticed 4 monarch chrysalis attached to branches I had cut off. I always wonder where the caterpillars disappear, as their chrysalis are not always in plain sight. These four really crawled deep into the vegetation to make their chrysalis. They are now in our butterfly house, so they can emerge safely.
Everywhere
It’s been amazing to see the amount of monarch caterpillars in the gardens. Even more amazing are the chrysalis that are popping up in and around the garden. Some caterpillars have crawled a good distance to make a chrysalis on my garage doors, to the side of the house, and of course on posts in the garden.
The birthday wish
I don’t know who was more excited, my daughter, or I, for this year’s birthday destination, a trip to Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, Florida.
In 1986, Butterfly World began building its sanctuary in Broward County within Tradewinds Park. I read that Butterfly World keeps 20,000 butterflies on display, although there are often more that can be seen. At any given time there are up to 50 tropical species, with more than 150 different species throughout the year. Along a wall there were glass enclosures with a great deal of chrysalis, as well as some newly emerged drying its wings.
Every where you looked there were dozens fluttering by, all beautiful vibrant butterflies of various sizes. A few times they landed on us, as they were making their way to their next destination. Of course, my little butterfly whisperer had the beautiful blue butterfly (a morpho species) sit on her finger as she beamed uncontrollably.
It was such a special occasion to see her walking around pointing out different butterflies that caught her attention, a few of which we have seen either in our garden, or at Butterfly Estates in Downtown Fort Myers.
It was definitely worth the trip. A trip that may have to be taken again someday. It was hard to choose some of my favorites. Enjoy the 20 images below of the few that caught our attention.
