The Back Story~
Last year I planted three Blood-flowers, or Mexican Butterfly Weed (Asclepias currasavias), because I heard that they attracted butterflies. Have to admit I was more than a little disappointed. The only insects that they attracted were aphids--by the hoards. Though I was tempted to jerk them out by the roots when I was spraying them down daily with the garden hose last summer, I didn't have the heart to pull the three substantial plants out of the garden. Now I'm so glad I didn't.
This spring, I understand why the Mexican Butterfly Weed, or Blood-flower, is called a "host plant." Monarchs are attracted to the blooms, and feed on the nectar. Once they visit the cafe, they usually decide that it's a good place to raise a family. They lay their eggs on the leaves. When these eggs hatch, all the little caterpillars devour their nursery; they strip every leaf, but that doesn't kill the host plant. Fat and juicy, all the juniors crawl off to find a place to attach themselves for transformation.
Our Monarch Nursery~
Can't tell you which came first: the chrysallis or the caterpillar. That is, I don't remember which I noticed first in our Monarch nursery.
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| Little jewel in our oak tree--see the gold dots? They are metallic, shiny gold. |
There was a chrysallis attached to a big flower pot by our front door, and another on the branch of an oak tree. One day when I was hugging Steve Jr. goodbye at the front door, I noticed a new bright green jewel hanging over the door frame. It joined the three already hanging there like little earrings.
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| Three in a row, and one new one above. |
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| Four different stages of "chrysallis-ing" here above our front door: bright green is brand new, clear and empty is hatched and flown, next is one that never opened, and the one on the far left is cooking! |
And Monarch caterpillars on the host plants practically dared me to photograph them every time I wandered down the front walk.
Then I started to see a Monarch or two floating around the garden. (Apologizing ahead of time for the poor quality of the next shots.)
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| (right center) A Monarch comes in for a landing on what's left of host plant Mexican Butterfly Weed or Blood-flower. |
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| Looking for a good spot to lay her egg. Can you see at least two caterpillars too? |
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| One Very Hungry Caterpillar (lower left) observes a butterfly (upper right) using her ovipositor-- wouldn't my high school Biology teacher be proud that I remembered that! |
I managed to capture her on film once while she was laying her single eggs on Blood-flower leaves.
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| Right in the middle of the leaf is a brown Monarch egg. |
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| The Distant Cousins hang out on two sides of the same leaf. |
And the caterpillars munched on.
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| Two Monarch caterpillars strip their host plant down to the stem (and a few tiny golden aphids). |
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| There are three caterpillars in this shot. Can you find them? 1 is the biggun' 2 is just below Biggun' and teeny tiny 3 is head-down below Teeny and Biggun' in the artistically unfocused background |
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| Reaching for a new leaf. |
One morning as I explored activity in the nursery, I noticed a crumpled butterfly in a flowerpot beneath an empty chrysallis. So sad! It looked like its wings weren't formed properly, so I checked it off to natural selection.
I learned differently a few days later while checking on a ripe chrysallis that I thought might be opening soon. A butterfly had just emerged, but it had fallen to the ground when it failed to latch its legs to its chrysallis shell. Or maybe a gust of breeze knocked it loose. It was still alive and strong enough to grasp my finger with its legs, so I transfered it to a sturdy leaf where it could hang its crumpled wings out to dry and straighten. Over the next hour or so, one wing smoothed out completely, but the other wasn't able to recover. It couldn't fly, so it didn't live.
Another time I found a caterpillar attached to a solar garden lamp. This stripey guy looked for all the world like he was on his way to butterflyhood, but on closer inspection I could see that he had been crunched a little too much.
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| Attached, but crunched (by a bird?) |
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| The only live insects in this picture are the aphids. The chrysallis didn't survive. |
But the successful miracles were a joy to observe.
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| Can you believe how beautiful this is?! A fully formed Monarch seen through its clear chrysallis. |
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| An hour after the picture just above, here's the newbie! |
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| The newly-emerged Monarch stayed in this position-- hanging wings-down until its wings were dry. They dripped while I photographed. |
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| Once capable of flying, the Monarch began to move. |
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| I captured a caterpillar in the process of attaching to a brick window frame on our front porch. |
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| One night he was a caterpillar . . . |
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| . . . the next morning, he was a chrysallis! |
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| Two more chrysallises--chrysalli? like the window frame on the porch. |
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| Just-hatched |
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| Ready to fly, and brighten the day. |
Hope you enjoyed you visit to this Newborn Nursery of another kind. Maybe I'll have some pictures of our not-so-newborn Daniel to share soon.
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