A Weird Season so Far
I took the off season off and spent a lot of time trying to learn how to make the garden better. Also, I wanted to see how to begin attracting other butterflies than just monarchs.
At the beginning of the season, my tropical milkweed started sprouting, but I lost all of my other species due to the ridiculous winter we had in the Houston area. I mean, seriously ridiculous - we had snow! And Freeze! And the Astros won the world series! I digress.
So, I did a little research and decided that while I was getting plants for the vegetable garden, I would pick up on fennel plant and see if I could lure some swallowtails into stopping by. Everything was planted... and then we waited. And waited.
I had one Monarch come by and drop only a few eggs, all of which we raised to butterfly before the end of my son's kindergarten year, which meant he got to share the release of a couple with his friends, his teacher, and even his principal. But then... we waited again.
Right before we left to visit Colorado for my cousin's wedding, a beautiful black swallowtail stopped by. I watched from the window and was so hopeful that she was laying eggs. At this point though, I had no idea how to even tell if it was a SHE or not, but since there were no flowers yet for her to nectar on, it HAD to be laying eggs - right?
Good news for us - there were eggs! I had to google a whole bunch, because there was no way I had enough fennel to support these little guys. Good news it that their food is really easy to come by - rue, dill, parsley, and queen anne's lace are all pretty standard stuff at the nursery that we use (no pesticides, all organic.)
I planted some of the plants in the gardens - dill in the veggie garden (I am making pickles with it too) and the rest in the butterfly garden. It has proven handy since the swallowtails eat just like the monarchs - nonstop!
The caterpillars are so interesting. They start off black and orange with a white stripe down the middle - and they are spiky - and then they end up looking like monarch impostors!
I was out of town for about a week, so the neighbor girls kept an eye on things while I was gone. The swallowtails are wanderers, so it took some hunting to find the chrysalis and I suspect several escaped entirely, but I would never notice the swallowtail chrysalis in the wild before - they are not like shiny jewels like the monarchs - they turn brown or green depending on what they attach to and look like dead leaves.
Even more interesting is that they don't live by the clock like monarchs. The first generation of the spring emerge after approximately the same length of time as the monarchs (a week or two depending on the weather) but the second generation overwinters, meaning they will stay in a chrysalis for 9 months or longer until the next spring.
These butterflies only have a lifespan of 6-10 days. It seems so short considering the amount of effort that goes into keeping them safe from predators and the other environmental dangers. From egg to butterfly, I spent about 6-7 weeks feeding and just protecting them in general. They emerge as such beautiful creatures and hopefully visit for the short time they are alive.
The one I released this morning (a male - I think...) came by a couple of times to nectar on the milkweed and hopefully flew off to find his mate.
I went out to the veggie garden a little later to get dill to make some pickles, and on the dill I cut, there were a few more little yellow spheres! It is unlikely that the guy I let go this morning had anything to do with it, but I am going to let myself believe he did somehow.
Since I found those, I checked in the butterfly garden as well, but there were no eggs. I did find a few Queen (very similar to monarchs) caterpillars, I I brought those in along with some milkweed. Hopefully the season continues to pick up...
Come back soon - I will be launching a butterfly inspired line of handmade soap. I'll post a link and pictures when its ready to go! Thanks for stopping by.
At the beginning of the season, my tropical milkweed started sprouting, but I lost all of my other species due to the ridiculous winter we had in the Houston area. I mean, seriously ridiculous - we had snow! And Freeze! And the Astros won the world series! I digress.
 |
| This is a recent picture of the garden during a pretty decent rain storm (don't mind the hose...) I have found BEAUTIFUL giant milkweed and since we haven't had many monarchs, the milkweed is basically overgrowing. My husband got me the birdbath in the spring as we were planting everything and I think it is a beautiful addition. |
So, I did a little research and decided that while I was getting plants for the vegetable garden, I would pick up on fennel plant and see if I could lure some swallowtails into stopping by. Everything was planted... and then we waited. And waited.
I had one Monarch come by and drop only a few eggs, all of which we raised to butterfly before the end of my son's kindergarten year, which meant he got to share the release of a couple with his friends, his teacher, and even his principal. But then... we waited again.
Right before we left to visit Colorado for my cousin's wedding, a beautiful black swallowtail stopped by. I watched from the window and was so hopeful that she was laying eggs. At this point though, I had no idea how to even tell if it was a SHE or not, but since there were no flowers yet for her to nectar on, it HAD to be laying eggs - right?
 |
| Can you see it?! The tiny yellow sphere? |
Good news for us - there were eggs! I had to google a whole bunch, because there was no way I had enough fennel to support these little guys. Good news it that their food is really easy to come by - rue, dill, parsley, and queen anne's lace are all pretty standard stuff at the nursery that we use (no pesticides, all organic.)
I planted some of the plants in the gardens - dill in the veggie garden (I am making pickles with it too) and the rest in the butterfly garden. It has proven handy since the swallowtails eat just like the monarchs - nonstop!
The caterpillars are so interesting. They start off black and orange with a white stripe down the middle - and they are spiky - and then they end up looking like monarch impostors!
 |
| I remove these from the host plants so that I could keep them in the butterfly house without having to bring in the whole plant. Just like the monarchs, the chrysalis turns black just before they emerge. |
These butterflies only have a lifespan of 6-10 days. It seems so short considering the amount of effort that goes into keeping them safe from predators and the other environmental dangers. From egg to butterfly, I spent about 6-7 weeks feeding and just protecting them in general. They emerge as such beautiful creatures and hopefully visit for the short time they are alive.
I went out to the veggie garden a little later to get dill to make some pickles, and on the dill I cut, there were a few more little yellow spheres! It is unlikely that the guy I let go this morning had anything to do with it, but I am going to let myself believe he did somehow.
Since I found those, I checked in the butterfly garden as well, but there were no eggs. I did find a few Queen (very similar to monarchs) caterpillars, I I brought those in along with some milkweed. Hopefully the season continues to pick up...
Come back soon - I will be launching a butterfly inspired line of handmade soap. I'll post a link and pictures when its ready to go! Thanks for stopping by.
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