The polydamas swallowtail caterpillar that I found yesterday is now in its chrysalis today.
My food source for them is almost gone and there are probably another two dozen if not more caterpillars in the garden. There’s probably a dozen in the butterfly house that I found roaming around the garden, crawling on the house, or walking down our pathway.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars are on the move again. The birthwort, its host plant, is almost gone, as the influx of caterpillars took to eating it almost to nothing.
When they are finished they start inching around the garden, causing you to look down to make sure you’re not stepping on them, instead of up.
Some have gone into the butterfly house, while others have started the chrysalis process on our house with creating its silk girdle.
You ask, why should you plant a butterfly garden? Oh my goodness, the reasons are endless. I could probably come up with a quick 20 reasons without giving it much thought.
I will highlight one – seeing new life in the garden. Why, you ask? Because you watch the butterflies laying eggs, then the caterpillars eat and grow, eat and grow before they disappear. Sometimes I can find their chrysalis, while other times cannot.
So, when I walk out into the garden and see a butterfly drying its wings, it brings me so much happiness, especially when I did not know a chrysalis was nearby.
Here are two monarch butterflies that emerged in my Southwest Florida garden this week.
The polydamas, “gold rim” swallowtail butterflies have had a phenomenal year in the butterfly garden so far this year.
There were a few days I didn’t have an opportunity to walk through the garden and by the third day, wow. My birthwort plant is crawling with a couple dozen polydamas caterpillars feasting away on its host plant.
It’s fun to watch these guys grow. When they are smaller they stay together in a pack, but eventually spread out as they get bigger.
Butterflies appear when angels are near.
It never fails there is always a butterfly that emerges on a big day for my daughter. Today we had two.
Nature at its finest.
We had two butterflies emerge today, an orange barred sulphur (81) and a monarch butterfly (639).
