Last summer I planted several flowers in front of my porch with the goal of attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and beneficial pollinators. One of the things in the mix was a milkweed. Happily, it re-seeded itself and this year there are many growing and blooming in the bed. It was enough to attract monarchs along with yellow, black, and zebra swallowtails, skippers, and others. Suddenly it seemed there were over a dozen monarch caterpillars munching away on the milkweed, and then just as suddenly, they were gone. Or so it seemed until I noticed the first chrysalis hanging from the arm of a chair, then another and another until I found a total of seven of them. Today they began to emerge...
Monarch chrysalis, green with gold lame'
See the wings? This one emerged just a few hours later.
Brand new.
Polka dots and daisies!
Can you imagine wearing such an outfit? The girl's got style.
I was able to get her to climb on my hand while she finished figuring out her wings, then she floated away to the tops of the trees.
