Just couldn't get enough of watching this one today. It seemed to be on the run more today than in the past few weeks. I'm wondering if it is their mating season?? I have also noticed today that instead of lighting on the flower of my butterfly weed, this one kept landing on the leaves way down towards the bottom of the plant. I wish I knew what their cycle was, so I would know what to look for.
Do any of you know??
Egg to adult butterfly cycle is about 4-6 weeks (4 days egg, 2-3 weeks cat, 10+ days pupa, as adult butterfly it lives approx. 2-6 weeks in summer, migrating ones in winter are alive for 6-8 month.
Mollybee, that is a Monarch, and the only plant the caterpillar eats is the milkweed. It looks like that is a female laying eggs. If you go out and look you should find tiny eggs. They are laid singly and are whitish or pale yellow.
Monarchs migrate through GA in spring and come back through in the fall. I just got my first fall Monarch the other day.
She DID in fact lay her eggs! I just found 4 baby cats!! I am soooo excited too! (can ya tell? LOL)
Couldn't get a real good pic of them but this is one of the better ones.
Cool Molly! We lost most of our milkweed last winter and have been replacing it with natives lately that are still small. I have high hopes for next year though!
Are these not perennial?? Hmmmmm I might better do some research on this one, because I want this plant again next year for sure!!
They might come back, but I wouldn't count on it. The currasavica that you have is very easy to start from seed and grow fast. The plants I had at the spring swap was only a couple of months old. If your cats eat all your flowers I have lots of seed I'm bringing to the swap in October.
Sad to report, but I can't find my cats!! :( I had 4 of them just yesterday and now there is no sight of them anywhere. When I found them they were on the very top of the bush right around the flower buds, but now there is nothing. Looked all down the plant, and still can't find them. :(
I hope I am just overlooking them.
