I enjoy raising Monarch Butterflies at Monarch Waystation No. 613 here in NW Ohio. In the side yard, roughly 30 Common and Swamp Milkweed plants grow alongside Butterfly Bush and Beebalm, Butterfly Weed, Cardinal and Violet flowers. The backyard grows another 20 Common Milkweed plants. Collecting the eggs are fun. On July 12th, I gathered 11 from the side yard milkweeds and 10 from the backyard milkweeds. In 3 days (tomorrow) they will hatch into tiny caterpillars, then eat milkweed leaves for about 9 days, then form "J's" at the top of the cage. Shortly after forming a "J", each turns into a chrysalis. Then, in about 9 days, a beautiful orange and black Monarch adult butterfly emerges. As the Monarchs emerge, I watch and photo the shriveled, wet wings expand as each one pumps the fluid in its bulging body into the wing veins. In about two hours, when the wings are mostly dried, I allow them to crawl onto my finger, then I place them on the flowering purple Butterfly Bush flowers.
Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S believes urban sprawl can be offset by creating wildlife-friendly spaces in America's 25,000,000 lawns, one yard at a time! Click HERE to learn why. A portion of Ad sale revenues will be donated to Monarch Watch. Do you have a wildlife-friendly space? Please share it! Contact us on the secure Bpath Mail Form.
