Ok thanks Paige
I meant make a comma...:oD
Finally found some Queen cats!!!!!
Some of the cats have pupated on leaves and I'm afraid the leaf will dry up and fall, can I move the crysalis? And, does it have to be hanging vertical or can it lay on the bottom of the cage?
It needs to hang down because the bottom of the chrysalis is where it splits open. If you leave the stalks in water (or green foam etc) so they have a little moisture the leave will probably stay on. You can move it now or later tho if you want.
You could take thread and tie it around the stem of the chrysalis and use that to hang it from something else. I'd just cut the leaf off and leave that attached too, maybe trim it down in size. You can also use SuperGlue to reattach the stem if it totally comes off. I've done both. Whatever you do with them just make sure you've got them hanging high enough for the butterfly to hang down from it.
Thanks KB!
You're welcome! Here's a pic of my garden this morning. Take into account that I have no trees, unlike you who lives in tree heaven. I love The Woodlands!!
This is the middle section of my back bed. Same bed, just a full front view.
That's beautiful!
I don't know about tree heaven lol
We have too many trees here, I wish for more sun, you are in treeless heaven!
Looks Great Paige!!:oD
Oh there you go, kk..showing off again LOL
Still as beautiful as the last time I saw your garden pics :)
It looks even more beautiful in person. The pictures are only part of the backyard, her side and front yard are equally georgeous!! I felt very blessed to witness her cats muching away in her cage also. The pictures don't show it but not 5 seconds went by that a butterfly wasn't fluttering by.
Sheila
That is just so awesome!!
Oh, thank y'all! It's so nice to be able to share it with everyone, in pics or in person. It's not as tended to as I would like but I just couldn't bring myself to pull up things or cut things back so it's overgrown. I'm finally pulling out some of the zinnias that have been blooming for months and giving some light to little seedlings underneath them. Everything needs a good boost of fertlizer soon too. But the best part is that the butterflies are loving it!
I enjoy raising cats - mostly Monarchs, Queens, Swallowtails, and Gulf Fritillaries. This Queen didn't want to leave my finger when I tried to release it. They are really awesome cats to watch grow and of course beautiful in flight!
Wow KKB, what an awesome design job, love the 'flowing' look - and your plants all look so healthy! (makes note to follow KKB around on forums and pick her brain for secrets...)
Snuzer, Deb, Becky, all wonderful pictures - maybe next year I'll be brave enough to get involved in the pupating stage of the game. This year I've just been content to watch, but never got to see a "new" Swallowtail emerge. I did have a damaged Cabbage White that I tried to help, but it didn't make it - the wings were all crumpledy like someone wadded her up :(
You all make this so exciting!
~Sunny
KKB Your garden IS SO BEAUTIFUL! It is something to aim for. I love it. Sunny, thanks for the compliment. I am having a lot of fun with this new butterfly hobby. --Sue
KKB - I love your garden! My front garden is tall like yours. I just let it grow for now instead of keeping it compact, neat, and tidy. I will prune back in November when the growth slows down. Every fall I just let it grow tall because I know that the colder weather is coming soon. (The last fling of growth before dying back.)
I've been seeing lots of mating butterflies lately. Their mating flight/dance is quite amazing to watch. The males are quite aggressive even to other butterfly species! I'm seeing eggs/cats on host plants again. Fall and Spring seem to be the busiest time here in my zone (9B) in Florida.
I read a good idea, which many of you may already know about: You should prune by branches at different times (weeks apart) instead of the entire plant during the warmer growing months. That way you still have flowers on the plants at all times. It used to make me sad to completely prune back a plant because I knew that it was either a nectar or host plant for butterflies. The selective branch pruning works much better for me, so that I always have blooms on each plant. They are still taller but not as crowded and overgrown looking.
Also, with milkweed, I often have to prune them back hard as they get pretty scraggly as they get taller. I prune different clusters of milkweed in different parts of my yard at different times. That way I always have milkweed blooming somewhere in my yard to give the Queens and Monarchs host and nectar plants. It seems to work well for me.