Monarch Butterfly Southwest Florida Butterfly Gardening Zebra Longwing Butterfly Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly Queen Butterfly Monarch caterpillar zebra longwing caterpillar cloudless sulphur caterpillar eastern black swallowtail caterpillar giant swallowtail caterpillar gulf fritillary caterpillar polydamas swallowtail caterpillar black rim swallowtail caterpillar black rim swallowtail caterpillar queen caterpillar zebra longwing caterpillar

We reached another milestone today. We have successfully raised 350 monarch butterflies, as one female, and one male emerged this morning.

Can you tell I have fallen in love with the sweet almond bush? It makes such a nice backdrop for photographs.

I have read that this bush is one that is a fast grower, and can be grown as either a tree, or a shrub, spreading 6 to 12 feet and growing 6 to 12 feet high. I have one planted in the garden already, and it took daily watering, sometimes twice a day, to get it established and happy. It loves full sun and that is definitely what it gets in this location. I have a second one that is still in the pot that I need to find a good location for. The aroma of the flowers is amazing. It is said that if pruned frequently it will increase the blooms. The monarchs are definitely enjoying the nectar.

One word comes to mind, “grateful.”

Grateful I began a butterfly garden a number of years ago. Grateful that I get to watch the incredible journey from an egg, to a stunning monarch butterfly. Grateful I get to photograph such amazing moments, such as this male enjoying some sweet almond bush nectar. Grateful that my daughter enjoys the gardens, and butterflies, as much as I do.

These last few days I have had so much fun watching the monarch butterflies eat. Today’s feast was sweet almond bush, lantana and pentas. My daughter was extremely excited to pick out pink and purple pentas today, while I was ecstatic to add another sweet almond bush to the nectar variety. The aroma of the sweet almond bush is incredible.

The amazement was how much they sip until they rest, or fly away. It definitely put a perspective of how much nectar a butterfly garden should have in addition to its host plants.

Here are a few from my photoshoot for today.

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