Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY PICTURES # 110, 4 by Lily_love

Lily_love wrote:
1) Roughly 7-11 days after the first Monarch sighting in our area, a day or two later I found the first eggs, actually the eggs must have been there 4-5 days earlier. The following day I found some newly hatched 1st cats, they were the size of a thread, tiny, tiny little caterpillars. Today; they have molted and shed their first outer skin. Now they're called 2nd instar, and can easily be found by the naked eyes in the garden.

2) Eggs can be seen sometimes on the underside of leaves, MW leaves-- their host plant. Sometimes, they are seen right on the MW flowers. I can look at photos on professionally made literatures, websites professionals/novice alike, this is my first year finding the Monarch eggs in the garden, they are pale white, unlike whatever color I saw that have documented. I can say that Monarch eggs are slightly smaller than BST's and their shapes are different. BST's egg appears slightly larger than that of Monarch's. BST's egg looks round and has a hint of green in its appearance, while Monarch's are slightly elongated. Monarch's eggs haves interesting stripes on them, macrophotography can show these eggs in brilliant details, my photos are made with a cell phone. :((

3) Tropical MW in containers. This one happened to be hitch-hiking or piggy bagged into my annual pot last year. (At the end of last year growing season, I took the very same pot indoor to save my MW -- for this year Monarch migration).

4 & 5) Monarch cats. on Asters. Grin; I'm just kidding. I've been yearning to grow asters in my garden, now I finally have some. Today, I was surprised by these larger, 2nd instars hidden out of plain sight on their host plants. I plugged the MW leave, using it to carry my precious cats. inside. I'm so glad I've found them before they're discovered by predators in the garden. :)

edited for typo.


This message was edited Sep 13, 2015 8:45 AM