Can someone please tell me what butterfly this will be?
I'm new to b'fly gardening and tried to find a pictorial reference online for chrysalis IDs, but so far no luck. Point me in the right direction (website, link?)?
Thanks. I'm in FL and the plant is lavendula.
Hi mizar5 - Welcome to the Butterfly and Hummingbird Forum!
The chyrsalis that you have in the photo looks to be either a Monarch or possibly Queen butterfly chrysalis. Either way, a beautiful butterfly will emerge in a short while. Just keep your eye on it every day. If the butterfly emerges, it will hang and dry it's wings from the plant for several hours to a day before it flies away. The plant doesn't matter really. Most butterfly cats look for a taller plant for their chrysalis stage of development.
Welcome to the BF &HB Forum mizar5,
Congrats on your soon-to-be new butterfly!
Cathy
Welcome Mizar5!
One note, the chrysalis will turn almost black the evening before it emerges. It will emerge very early in the morning too. congrats!
Hi! . . . and thanks everyone for the welcome --
I'm watching the chrysalis closely, and today it's still sealed up tight. I hope I can get up whatever day it decides to emerge and see it happen. I have been seeing LOTS of monarchs in the garden lately. Now I know what to look for. I've also been seeing Black and Giant Swallowtails, and Red Admirals. Also some kind of white thing with a faint/slight darker line at the wing edges (sorry no pics), and a yellow (I think it's a sulphur).
One thing that surprises me is that this one is sticking out so visibly from a lavender flower spike like this. I would have thought they would choose more protected, secluded, private places -- thick shrubs, back of the border, etc. And yet here is this fellow, dangling from a skinny lavender stem, hanging out over part of the driveway where there's a lot of activity and breeze action. Interesting!
