I cannot help but take this as a sign. Butterflies appear when angels are near . . . Our grandparents are looking over us. The amount of butterflies in my garden this morning was amazing, especially with the overcast skies.
It’s such a great feeling to be surrounded by them as we prepare for Hurricane Milton.
I haven’t seen these many monarch butterflies in my garden in such a long time. They were laying eggs, grabbing a drink.
The gulf fritillary flew so incredibly close before making a stop at my red penta.
With tropical storm Debby in the gulf, we’ve had nonstop bands of rain and wind pretty steadily all day. So, needless to say, there were no butterflies enjoying the gardens today. The caterpillars were all holding onto their host plants just fine – weathering the storm, but the butterflies found their shelter riding out the storm.
The last time I took our 4 month old golden retriever puppy outdoors, that changed. Lily found a gulf fritillary butterfly on the ground with wings wet as can be. A gust of wind took it near a tree, where Lily guided me. She put her nose to the ground right where the butterfly landed. While I scooped up the butterfly, Lily led me back to the porch where I placed the butterfly into the butterfly house, so it can dry off its wings tonight. We will let the beauty go tomorrow, when hopefully the sun comes back out and the grounds dry up a little.
My sweet puppy just stole my heart. Another butterfly whispherer in our home. The gentleness she showed is one of the reasons I love this puppy.
My daughter, a few days from turning 7 years old, and her friend, also 6 years old, absorb so much information, and with that have such big hearts for nature.
Today, they came running through the sliding glass door, yelling they had to show me something . . . a gulf fritillary chrysalsis that had fallen. You could tell they, too, were proud of themselves for both knowing what it was, and for saving it.
Quite a few caterpillars use her playground as their final chrysalis destination, which is where they had found the chrysalis.
So now, we have a new resident in our butterfly house, hung, so hopefully, it can emerge without any problems.
It absolutely warms my heart how much my daughter, and now her friend, love seeing butterflies. The joy and squeals that radiate off of them when they see a butterfly is rewarding for me. I have shared my passion with two beautiful souls that hopefully will continue to provide gardens for butterflies to enjoy when they grow older.
