Tag Archives: Chrysalis

On the lookout

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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

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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.

First of the New Year

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We had our first of 2023 monarch butterfly emerge yesterday in our butterfly house. This beautiful male was eager to fly away, making it No. 350 that we have successfully reached since we began this journey.

The great thing is the garden is very active, as well as the butterfly house with many chrysalis and caterpillars.

It is incredibly rewarding to witness the life cycle of the butterfly. The nest part is sharing that passion with not only my daughter, but iur fsmily and friends too.

I am excited to share that 2023 is bringing a new vision for me, one that includes growing many host and nectar plants from seed. I am having huge success with zinnia and dill so far.

Finishing up

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My beautiful, lush Dutchman pipe has been chewed down to almost nothing as the polydamus swallowtail caterpillars continue to go through all their instars. There were quite a few that were brought into our butterfly house, with many finally finishing up its caterpillar stage, getting rid of the last of its waste, creating its silken girdle and creating its either green, or brown chrysalis.

The caterpillar getting rid of the remains it does not need for its next stage, the chrysalis.

We have six that have made its silken girdle, getting ready to finish off its chrysalis. There are two very close to each other with a monarch caterpillar hiding in the below photo. We had quite a few caterpillars decide to make its chrysalis on a milkweed. I guess the plant will be staying in the butterfly house for a good two weeks.

So far we have three chrysalis as of this morning from this batch of caterpillars. There are eight caterpillars still either eating or finding their destination to start their chrysalis. The polydamas are certainly taking over our butterfly house right now.

As always, click on the link for more information and photos of the polydamas swallowtail: https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/polydamas-swallowtail-butterfly/?frame-nonce=f0243aad30

Lots of action

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Four more butterflies emerged this morning in our butterfly house, three gulf fritillary (total 8) and one monarch (total 146). Still to this day I have not witnessed the fritillary hatching. One day . . . This butterfly is so striking, as the bottom of its wings are so different than the top bright orange pattern.