We released Monarch Butterfly #5 into the wild this morning. It is amazing to see the butterfly inside the chrysalis the day before it comes out. You really have a chance to study it since it can’t fly away.

My butterfly nursery has been very successful so far. Our current count is:

• 5 released

• 1 inside chrysalis

• no more caterpillars… I need to bring some from the milkweed plants.

• We also have 3 Gulf Fritillary chrysalises on our Passion Vine plant.

Unfortunately, I found one of the two large caterpillars laying in the dirt of the milkweed plant inside the nursery. He was in his J shape and moving his front feet, so I picked him up and put him on a safe surface (I didn’t want him to drown when I watered the plants). I figured he probably fell of the branch and would be fine, hopefully forming his chrysalis soon. This morning he was black and very lifeless. I guess even the best “safe house” doesn’t protect them all.

Jonny and I went to Butterfly World. It was Amazing! You will never see as many butterflies as you see in this place! They have so many different kinds of plants and butterflies. They also have a nursery area where you can see the butterflies coming out of their chrysalis.

They gave me a list of plants to use for butterfly gardening. The following are larval plants for South Florida yards:

Dutchman’s Pipe (Any Aristolochia spp.) for the Polydamas Swallowtail

Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara) and Citris (Ruta spp.) for the Giant Swallowtail

Passion Vine (Passiflora spp.—Suberosa, Incense, Incarnata) for the Zebra Longwing, Julia, and Gulf Fritillary

Wild Senna (Cassia spp.—Shrubs: Alata, Didymobotrya, Coluteoides; Trees: Surratensis, Fistula) for the Orange-barred Sulphur butterfly and the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly

Milkweed (Asclepias Curassavica) for the Monarch and the Queen butterflies

Their recommendations for nectar plants are as follows (plant in abundance): Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), Heliotrope, Lantana, Milkweed, Mint, Pentas, Porterweed, Verbena, and Zinnias.

For our butterfly garden, we planted a bunch of Milkweed plants. We were fortunate enough to have tons of fat Monarch caterpillars on each plant. They came like that straight from this amazing nursery that we go to (Abell’s Nursery). They don’t spray pesticides. There are always butterflies fluttering around their plants.

After planting the milkweed, we counted 25 monarch caterpillars. There were most likely more since they hang under the leaves to eat. I was thrilled to watch these caterpillars much on the leaves. Their size indicated that they were within hours or days of forming their chrysalis.

Later that day, we went to check out the caterpillars. We noticed a large wasp hovering around the plants. Then, to our horrifying surprise, the wasp stung one of the caterpillars. White liquid squirted from the caterpillar and within a minute, the wasp had devoured the entire caterpillar. I was very upset and feared that the wasp would eat more of them. I thought about creating a cage around the plants to keep the wasps out, but we were busy that day and we went about our errands.

A few hours later, we returned home to find absolutely NO caterpillars on the milkweed plants. NOT ONE! I was heartbroken. These huge caterpillars only had a few days until they formed their chrysalis. At that point, I decided that I would start a little caterpillar nursery so that I could raise a few without wasp interference. Online, they sell pop-up mesh butterfly cases for $15.00 and up (plus shipping). I decided I couldn’t wait, so I went to Target and bought a pop-up mesh hamper and 3 milkweed plants.

The monarch butterflies definitely are laying eggs on our milkweed plants. I have already put 5 small caterpillars into the nursery. We released our second butterfly from the nursery this morning, and we have two that formed their chrysalis and the rest are still munching. Two have managed to disappear from spiders. I guess you can’t stop nature.

Here is a picture of my creation:

Over the last few months, we have been working on our butterfly garden.  I worried that even though we planted the garden, that the butterflies would not come. Friends have told me that they have not had success with butterfly gardens. I am confident that the reason MUST be their pesticide use.

It is imperative that weed killers and other pesticides are NOT used anywhere near your butterfly garden. Actually, they should not be used at all.

The very weekend that we planted our backyard islands, we could see butterflies flying around them. The plants that we used were:

Milkweed: This is one of the BEST plants you could possibly have in your butterfly garden. The monarch butterflies LOVE it. We seem to see various butterflies around this plant throughout the day. This is the larval host plant for the Monarch Butterfly. Unfortunately, the monarch caterpillars in our yard don’t last very long due to the hungry wasps. I created a little “butterfly nursery” out of a spiral pop-up hamper that I bring the baby caterpillars to so that they will not be eaten. Inside the hamper, I have 3 small milkweed plants. These are more beautiful than I thought they would be.

Passion Vine: This is another absolute MUST in your butterfly garden. The passion vine is a host plant to 3 kinds of butterflies. Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Julia butterfly, and the Zebra Longwing butter fly. So far, we have only seen the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars and butterflies. They don’t have any predators in my yard, so there are tons of caterpillars.