My butterfly garden is located right outside my front door and goes along the pathway to the driveway and then extends the length of the house. I have said this multiple times, it was a great placement, as I can watch the butterflies from my couch. The best, though, is catepillars love the little nook by my front door to create its chrysalis.
This time a monarch butterfly chrysalis.
I walk my garden daily, more times than not, multiple times a day.
When you plant a butterfly garden your eyes become trained on what to look for – eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis, butterflies – all the stages of life.
Lately I have found a few newly emerged monarch butterflies in the garden, a great surprise, as I never saw the chrysalis. The last few have been on the underside of the giant milkweed leaves, the monarchs host plant.
Today, I spotted this beauty still drying its leaves.
Another lifecycle has begun. I have begun to spot many monarch caterpillars again. The clues they give make it easy to spot them, such as their frass left on leaves. The size of the frass also lets you know how big the caterpillar may be.
A huge perk of planting a butterfly garden by your front door is where caterpillars choose to make its chrysalis – right by the front door.
A monarch chrysalis.
A monarch caterpillar creating its chrysalis in my new beautiful butterfly house. It’s always fascinating to watch.
My kind of “egg” hunt resulted in finding three different butterfly species chrysalis throughout the garden – monarch, gulf fritillary, and orange barred sulphur. . . This monarch caterpillar was just finishing its chrysalis right outside my front door. My kind of Easter egg hunt.
