Monarch caterpillar. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Monarch caterpillar; begining the chrysalis process. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Monarch caterpillar, shedding its skin. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Monarch chrysalis. Image; Su Leslie, 2017
Monarch butterfly. Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Last summer the Big T and I planted milkweed, and enjoyed front-row seats to the lives of some monarch butterflies. From egg to mature caterpillar takes around two weeks; the chrysalis stage lasts around 10 days, and a butterfly can emerge, dry its wings and fly away in about 10 minutes.
Zimmerbitch 
Lovely, and soon the whole cycle will start anew.
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True, but probably not in our garden 😦 After last year we realised we’d either have to commit to planting a lot of swan plants (not sure we have space) or none. We went away for a few days at a crucial time, the person who’d offered to re-home some of the caterpillars didn’t show up, and I came back to find lots of them dead. I spent days cutting up pumpkin and hanging it on what was left of the plants to try and save as many as I could. Then we started stalking wasps and preying mantis. I think I’d need to arrange “butterfly-sitters” so that we can go away on holiday during their life-cycle.
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Yes, it’s tricky. I probably won’t plant any swan plants this year either because I simply can’t plant enough to satisfy the hungry caterpillars.
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Yes, we’ve tried to figure out where we could put a milkweed forest, and failed. 🙂
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😀
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Such an amazing thing to see!
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Thanks Dennis. It was, and we learned so much.
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Such a short and fragile life. Beautiful creatures, beautiful photos.
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Thanks Amy. I learned that there are four breeding cycles per season, with the butterflies who hatch in the last cycle surviving many months so that they can begin the cycle again. So cool!
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Can we all be in that last cycle? 🙂
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🙂 as they winter in warm sheltered places with abundant food — yes please!
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Love it X one hundred, Su!! I’ve let some milkweed grow in our garden area, but haven’t seen any of this, unfortunately. Milkweed likes to try to spread into the lawn as well, but I just dig it up. 😉
janet
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Thanks Janet. Milkweed doesn’t seem to grow that well here. We had to really nurture the plants. I was hoping that some might grow from the many seed heads that burst, but I’ve seen nothing so far. 🙂
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Magnificent Su!
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Thank you Debra 🙂
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beautiful and amazing
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Thanks 🙂
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They seem to be doing well there, Su. I think our Monarchs are having a bit of trouble. Don’t know whether its the herbicides or not. I did see a couple this summer but there use to be so many more.
Leslie
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I think they are struggling here too. We have a charity dedicated to getting people to plant milkweed to try and help maintain the population. As I mentioned to Gallivanta, nurturing our caterpillars to maturity actually took a huge amount of effort. The Big T built a shelter to protect them from wasps, we had to transplant a few fallen chrysalis to a safer place (and superglue them on so they wouldn’t fall — 100% success rate with that one amazingly), and towards the end of the season, we were feeding them on pumpkin because they’d eaten all the milkweed. It was totally worth it to witness every stage of their amazing lives, but boy was it hard work!
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Sometimes nature needs a helping hand. Thank you for that Su.
Leslie
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🙂
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🙂
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Nature at its best (with the help of a rather good photographer…)
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Thank you Jude, and Anabel. I think the Big T and his dedication to their survival (not to mention his engineering and carpentry skills) deserves credit too. 🙂
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Edit: …and with the help of the very talented and environmentalist Big T.
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He’ll love that! 🙂
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Wot Jude said. Awesome.
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Wow! Loved seeing these photos, Sue. Always good too hear that people are concerned about the butterfly population and taking time to help these beauties out. ❤
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Thanks Olga. 🙂
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These are perfect for the challenge and are breathtaking images.
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Thanks Lucile. They are such magnificent creatures to watch and photograph.
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Indeed, Su. And you do it so well.
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😊
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