We discovered a new garden guest yesterday…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you believe it?! A monarch butterfly caterpillar just beginning its transformation into a butterfly! In fact, it must have just climbed into place because it only takes a matter of hours for the pupa to form.

This morning, she had already reached the chrysalis stage…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so excited that the kiddo gets to watch this happen. We just don’t get this Wild Kingdom kind of experience often in the city. So happy we planted our Asclepias tuberose (native butterfly weed or milkweed), as it’s the host plant for monarch eggs and larva.

Will endeavor to post a photo every day for the 10-day metamorphosis. Great visuals here, by the way, if you’re eager to see what’s going to take place.

Tags: creatures, garden, native plants

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 at 2:23 pm and is filed under garden, kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.