The cycle of life in our own backyard...Monarch style.

A few months ago we took the kids up to the Chinsegut Birding and Wildlife Festival.  It was very cool.  Lots of facts about the local plants and animals.  What caught my eye was the native plants.  It reminded me that I had been meaning to get a milkweed for the yard.  They didn't have any that day because spring had just begun and the plants were not big enough.  I grabbed the first one I saw and then a second during a visit at Lowe's.   I got the second one because there was literally a Monarch on the plant in the garden center.  Ryder thought the butterfly would come home with us to be our yard pet. 
As it turns out we had Monarchs in the yard that week!!  How cool?!
A couple weeks after that I noticed that one of the plants was almost completely devoured.  Upon a quick, closer inspection I saw several caterpillars in action.  I checked every day after that.  One day the caterpillars just weren't there.  We have a lot of birds and other wildlife in the yard, but I thought for sure at least one had to have made it.  I searched the nearby trees and the soffit under the house, nothing. 
Then one day, I stumbled upon this by accident while weeding.....

AWESOME, right?!!!!

I got the other stages on camera too.

 Monarch in mid-flight

 Caterpillars munching away.

It's the chrysalis that I think is most amazing.  It's hanging under a large leaf of the japanese plum tree.  I've read that this helps hide it from predators and protect it from the weather.  Seems to be working perfectly. Nature is efficient.

Hopefully I'll be adding to this page shortly with pictures of the butterfly that emerges and then we will have completed the full cycle. 

So Cool!

If you are thinking of getting on of those mail order butterfly hatching kits, I would recommend getting a milkweed instead.  We've done the kit and while it was cool, there isn't a real chrysalis, more of a cocoon.  Plus, this is cheaper and you will have Monarch butterflies coming back to your yard and fluttering around year after year.  Then you can share your pictures with me!

Happy Gardening and butterfly watching. :)