The Escape of the Monarch Butterfly

Here we have it...I watched this beautiful winged flyer being born...amazing. This Monarch Butterfly had just opened her wings for the very first time. Slowly and gently, her wings flapped in the wind. Gathering energy from the sun's rays, it wasn't long before she flew to the sky. How do I know it's a girl? Male Monarch's have a black dot on the lower part of each wing.

I had been watching the cocoons for several days and as each day passed, the cocoons became lighter in colour. At one point, you could actually see the colour orange of the forming butterfly.

To the left is the empty transparent cocoon. From the time the caterpillars manifested themselves into their respective cocoons, it took 14 days for the entire transformation. Isn't Mother Nature just amazing!

Earlier in my gardening days, I had not given any thought to the Monarch Butterflies or cocoons. I always appreciated the beauty of the butterfly, but never invested the time to plant their host or watch them evolve.

I can remember back to my good old school days...I thought the whole process was rather boring.  Today, I have come a long way to appreciating what is given to us as miracles or genetics as my husband calls it.

From the beginnings, I had 10 caterpillars roaming the Swamp Milkweed. They ate vigorously, up and down the leaves. I have a page dedicated to the Monarch Butterfly on my website. Check it out a view a short video of these furry fat creatures munching Monarch Butterfly. Once they outgrew their skins (a total of 5 times) they formed their chrysalis. I managed to find 7 cocoons.

In the image below, can you see the black formation of the Monarch wings?

I have already decided to plant additional Swamp Milkweeds for next season. As it stands for this year, the Monarch caterpillars did not destroy my plants as feared by many gardeners. In fact, my plants have tripled in growth/size and are about to bloom for the second time!

Doris