Monarchs & Milkweed

One of the amazing results of planting butterfly weed (a type of milkweed) in my garden was that it attracted Monarch Butterflies. I never saw the original butterfly(ies) that laid eggs on my butterfly weed, but during the summer months, I found several very hungry (voracious) caterpillars eating my plants all the way down to the stem. And I was thrilled. That is why I planted those plants in my garden in the first place.

In August, I started to look for signs of any caterpillars getting ready to go into the pupa stage, forming a chrysalis. I didn’t see any.

But one day in early September, my husband called me outside. There, hanging off a rim of a garbage can was a chrysalis. From then on, my son was not allowed to use that garbage can. Thank God we had more than one!

Yesterday, I peaked at the garden…