Fly free . . .

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.

Truly amazing

The last of my polydamas swallowtail butterflies emerged today after being in its chrysalsis since before Thanksgiving 2024 in the butterfly house. It’s truly amazing how long they can overwinter. Our Southwest Florida temps did get a bit cold this winter, but it’s been pretty warm for some time now.

It flew directly to my daughter’s favorite bench in the garden where it hung out for quite some time, allowing me to admire its beauty a little bit longer.

An Easter male monarch

The last of the huge influx of monarch caterpillars emerged today, Easter morning, in our butterfly house.

This beauty is number 632 monarchs that we have raised.

There is a ton of nectar plants in full bloom in the garden, an Easter feast. Its absolutely gorgeous with all the colors. Here’s a blanket flower. They are everywhere!

Monarch galore

More monarch butterflies have emerged and released. Thirty-two monarch butterflies have been released since Saturday, April 5. The wonderful news –  there are still more chrysalsis in the butterfly house. Our total has now reached 628 monarch butterflies released over the past few years.