Our Lens-Artists challenge from guest host Priscilla at Scillagrace is to “present a “Getting To Know You” post showing your relationship with a subject you’ve photographed. The subject could be a Person, a Place, a Culture, an Object…anything that has captured your attention, won your affection and taught you a thing or two.”
I’ve always enjoyed watching butterflies as they fly from one flower to another so I planted a butterfly garden several years ago. The more I watched them the more I wanted to learn about them. Monarchs frequently fly through the area to feed and lay their eggs on milkweed plants.
Monarch butterflies will feed on many different nectar plants. I have found Mexican Sunflowers to be a favorite for them and many other varieties of butterflies. By summer the garden will be covered with zinnias, Mexican Sunflowers, coneflowers, and other nectar plants.
Right now my garden is in it’s early stages with very few blooms. I’m afraid the few Monarch butterflies that have come by my garden have been disappointed in the slim pickings. The only nectar plant blooming right now is a single Mexican sunflower with multiple blooms. I’ve been watching the butterflies drink their fill.
Every year I enjoy getting to know the caterpillars before they move on to become butterflies. I’ve learned their job is to eat so they have the strength to transform into a chrysalis.
The only plant that Monarch caterpillars feed on is milkweed (Asclepias). This year the female Monarchs laid their eggs on just about every available milkweed leaf they could find. The eggs hatched into tiny caterpillars and for the second year in a row they have devoured every leaf on every milkweed plant.
I observed the first group of caterpillars for several days and observed how quickly they grew before crawling off to make their chrysalis.
The caterpillars like to spin their chrysalis in a safe place and I very rarely can find them. Hopefully all the these caterpillars will emerge as beautiful Monarchs.
Many thanks to Priscilla at Scillagrace.com for this Photo Challenge. Please be sure to visit her original post at Lens-Artists Challenge #145: Getting to Know You
Amazing!
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Yes it is! Now if I could only find a chrysalis as the Monarch emerges…
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Beautiful Beth – you really captured these colorful little guys! Susan Gutterman, one of our followers, recently posted a video of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis – it was amazing. Her timing was wonderful and as she says, really lucky!
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Tina, thank you. I will check out Susan’s blog. We had a chrysalis out in the open last year. I tried for several days to capture a video of the butterfly emerging but it never happened. I still don’t know why it didn’t emerge.
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You must be experiencing a lot of smiles with these handsome visitors.
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Judy, the garden produces a lot of smiles for me. I’m impatiently waiting for all if the seeds to grow so there are more flowers!
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Fun, Beth. Nature at its grandest. Kudos for creating a butterfly garden. –Curt
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Curt, thank you! I enjoy having the butterfly garden and always hope the caterpillars are healthy and will go on to become beautiful butterflies.
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I’ve always thought it interesting to raise plants that you hope the insects will eat. 🙂
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Beth , Your Photography is Spectacular 👌🏻☺️🌴💕
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Thanks Jim!
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Love these! I just checked my four milkweed plants – got 14 caterpillars! Off to buy more!
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Pam, I’m getting more this weekend.
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Me too!
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I got 9 milkweed plants today. The lady behind me had 3 milkweed and a butterfly was laying eggs on her plants while she waited in line to pay!
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Awesome!
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You really have studied the monarch and become its ally! Thanks for planting a butterfly garden and for joining in this week’s challenge. Amazing close-up shots!
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Priscilla, thank you so much for the challenge! I am happy to grow a butterfly garden. It brings me a lot of joy and hopefully helps a lot of butterflies and other pollinators.
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This brought me a great big smile! Thanks so much for having a butterfly garden. Your captures are superb!
Keep us posted please. Happy Wednesday Beth!
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Thank you Nancy! The caterpillars are gone and there are still more adult Monarchs stopping by for nectar. I’m hoping to get more milkweed at a plant sale this weekend.
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I’m in 2 minds, definitely, if I should wich for (more) of those caterpillars here. On the one hand, they would surely eat our plants – some at least – but ion th eother hand Monarchs seem to be in the danger of dying out, and thus every single caterpillar is good sign.
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Thanks Pit. Your second point is the reason I plant the milkweed. I want them to eat them up so there can be more butterflies. The plants usually survive or can be replaced.
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We have a “wildflower area” which we keep unmoved except for once in late autumn, and for years we have tried to grow milkweed there, but withour success. It basically Mexican Hats that grow there, and those in abundance, but barely any other wildflower.
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That’s too bad about the milkweed not growing there. I love the idea of an unmowed “wildflower area”. Our yard isn’t big enough so I do the best I can with my small garden.
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We also do what we can, and wish we could do more.
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Wonderful photos. I really loved some of the caterpillar shots
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Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the caterpillar photos.
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Excellent, informative series.
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Thank you John.
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The butterfly is gorgeous! The caterpillars are amazing! These are all fantastic sightings.
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Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the images.
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The caterpillars are as prettily marked as the butterflies they become.
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This is a very special caterpillar series. Love the details you captured. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
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I’m very happy to share the caterpillar images. It’s nice to hear you liked the details. Thank you!
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