Always happy to help others with butterfly gardening!
Speaking of that, yesterday I was at Joshua House tending the library. A few of the kids were there (two suspended from school, and one goes to virtual school). I took them to the library and then the young lady who is in virtual school came with me while I showed her the butterfly garden (the suspended kids were on kitchen duty). We ended up spending two hours out there! It was awesome. I think I converted a young mind! We saw a Monarch laying eggs on the milkweed and the girl just loved that. After our time in the butterfly garden, we had to go back to the library where I gave her my favorite Florida Field Guide to Butterflies! Of course, I took some photos to share with you all.
Per usual, there are lots of White Peacocks there.
I even got this awesome shot of a White Peacock and a Long-Tailed Skipper on the milkweed!
And there are so many Monarch caterpillars! I'm going to have to keep an eye on them. I'm afraid there might be too many and they'll run out of food. But I'd take them to MOSI before I'd let that happen.
We had Gulf Fritillaries - caterpillars and butterflies!
The Monarch kept coming and going to eat and lay more eggs.
A couple of weeks ago, the last Polydamas caterpillar disappeared. I thought they would be done until next spring, but I was wrong. This has been a seriously weird year. I'm blaming climate change and El Nino. Here are some various Polydamas caterpillars. You can also see where the eggs hatched in the second picture. I don't know why this one was all alone. The rest of his friends were higher up on a leaf. There's always one rebel, though. I also got to teach my young friend the word "gregarious". Never know when it might come up on the SAT.
Our Cassia got egg-bombed and we found one small caterpillar. I was made to swear to bring him home and take care of him because he was small and it's a dangerous world. We saw a wasp with part of a Monarch caterpillar.
I stepped on it, ground my heel into the dirt, and taught her the word "retribution". Here's the Sulphur cat. I think he's been hurt as his color is uneven and he has some dark spots that aren't normal. I brought him home, though, and he's still alive as of last check.
And here's a nice photo I got of a White Peacock.
