The "Flutterflies" have arrived!

A few weeks ago I was whining about the fact that "nasty caterpillars" were chewing the daylights out of my Butterfly Bushes. In the midst of my whine I thought, "Hmmmm, I wonder if these could be...?" Yep! They were! Monarch butterfly caterpillars! (Last year I unwittingly killed off a whole slew of them because they were mowing my parsley down to the ground!) And so, I left them alone this year, despite the fact that I wondered if my Butterfly Bushes would survive.

This morning, I decided it was time to divide up my Lamb's Ear plants. I knew I'd better get it out of the way quickly because I could feel a migraine coming on. And so, pretty early, (like around 7am) I was out in the garden working away when I came upon the little guy pictured above. At first, I was thinking... "Oh my! His wings are all deformed! Then, my brain kicked in and I realized that he/she had just emerged from his/her cocoon and was still in the process of drying out. There were several Monarchs in my gardens this morning along with some other "Flutterflies" (as my sweet Addy would call them.)

I'm not sure what this one is but there have been quite a few of these as well!

You know, it's so much fun to watch nature unfold at this time of the year. I've watched baby birds try out their new wings. Seen Monarch butterflies go from big, juicy, ugly caterpillars to things of beauty. New plants have poked their heads out of the soil after a winter's nap. What a wonderful time of the year this is!

Oh, I and have done a check of my mowed over Buttfly Bushes. They're coming back quite nicely. They'll be around for another season of Monarch Buffet I guess! :)

 

Sue