Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 35, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Wow, haven't been here for a few days. I gave my butterfly talk to the kids yesterday for "Bring Your Child to Work" day. They ask millions of questions! They loved the stinkhorns and they all wanted to smell the leaf he smeared with his chemical. Their reactions were priceless. They also liked the spikes on the Gulf Frits. Some of them touched the Zebra ST cat and were surprised that it was soft. Don't they look squishy? They even asked me if the cats were dead! I said, "No, I wouldn't bring you dead caterpillars!" Some of them got grossed out when I talked about how the cats eat their egg after they hatched. One of the ladies I work with thought that was strange - why would that be gross? The adults were just as interested and people from other departments were asking who I was. Even some people from my own department were saying how I was "like a teacher" and an "entirely different Melanie". It was a lot of fun!

Well, Mom emailed today to tell me that she didn't have her contacts in, but she saw a large orange and black butterfly that was either a Gulf Frit or Monarch. When I came home Dad said he saw a Monarch flying around for 20-30 minutes and it liked "those orange flowers over there". Well, I went out to stake my beans this evening and the first thing I see is a Monarch flying around! I checked the milkweed (which has been in my yard for exactly two weeks now) and I have eggs. I picked seven and only checked two out of the four plants. So now I get to raise Monarchs. Mom is excited.

And for those of you who think you can't raise butterflies - you can! One of the girls yesterday asked how I got into raising them. I told her how I liked native plants and I read that some were hosts for certain butterflies. When I started last year I thought I would just plant their hosts and it would be fun to watch them fly around and see the caterpillars. But then I got the urge to see the whole process so I brought them inside. Then, you raise one species and you want to watch another species, and another...and it goes on.

Also wanted to mention that the Frits seem to prefer my p. caerulea as well. As for the laying eggs question - here's a picture I posted a while back of a Giant ST ovipositing. See how they curve their abdomen?

Melanie