Blogger Buzz: Environmental Blog Roundup

Blogger Buzz: Environmental Blog Roundup

butterflies & milkweed, caterpillar style

Remember all those milkweed plants I took home? Well, with the assistance of my darling husband, we planted them in the front yard, in full sun, right next to the bird bath. We were so fortunate that it rained quite a bit over the first week they were in the ground, so I didn't have to water them very much. Given our ongoing drought situation here in south Florida, this is always a good thing!

Within one day after putting the milkweed plants in the ground I discovered caterpillars munching away on the leaves. In the photo here you can see three of those little wooly buggers chowing down!

It's been more than a week now, and a lot of the leaves have been eaten away and the caterpillars have disappeared, but I haven't found any pupuas. YET!

Stay tuned as we await the arrival of the Monarch Butterflies!

butterflies and milkweed

Milkweed attracts Monarch Butterflies. Luke told me so. Then, yesterday, he showed up with 8 potted milkweed plants for me to take home and plant in my yard.

I put them out behind the building because I couldn't very well leave them in my car for the four or five hours I had left before it would be time to go home. Then, at the end of the day, I pulled my car around back to load them up and there were Monarch Butterflies on the flowers. What was really fun (and, funny) was how they swirled around the plants as I moved them into my car. It was as though they were saying, "Where are you going with those?"

Stay tuned ... I've put them in my front yard and will get them planted on the weekend. I'll take a picture and we'll see how long before the Monarch Butterflies show up!