Tag Archives: monarch caterpillar

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.

The lone caterpillar

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Yesterday there were three monarch caterpillars on this particular milkweed leaf. The others must have found their final resting place to make its chrysalis. There is a tree nearby, I would imagine they are somewhere in there seeking shelter to transform to a beautiful butterfly.

Now, just this lonesome caterpillar. I moved him to a milkweed plant that offered an abundance of food.

Magical

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Seriosuly, does it get better than this? A monarch caterpillar conversing with a monarch butterfly on a giant milkweed. Nature is the best, butterfly gardens even better.

This morning, we had two monarch butterflies emerge and released into the front garden. Both of them were female, and both fluttered to a different destination among the plants to rest a little longer. One a few times.

A male emerged

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We have taken a break from raising monarch caterpillars for the last few months until my husband spotted a caterpillar crawling up our lanai screen looking for a place to make its chrysalis. I put the caterpillar in our butterfly house and it instantly found a branch to make its J and create its green chrysalis. Yesterday a beautiful male monarch successfully emerged and was released in our garden.

He chose a zinnia to rest on and then a red sage before taking a longer flight out of the garden.

This beauty marks No. 429 that we have raised and released.

The monarch butterfly’s scientific name is Danaus Plexippus, which means “sleepy transformation” in Greek. The male has two black spots in the center of its lower wings and are larger in size than the female. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the spots are scent glands, which help the males attract females.