We released Monarch Butterfly #6 into the wild this morning. I tried to release it near the Penta plant in hopes that it would land on it to feed, but it went up to the palm tree instead. Hopefully it stays in my yard instead of landing on a nearby pesticide dowsed yard. I am curious as to the health of a butterfly after feeding from plants that have been sprayed by pesticide. I will try to research that soon.

Our current count is:

• 6 released

• 1 inside chrysalis

• 2 chunky caterpillars

• one baby caterpillar

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.

We released our 4th Monarch butterfly from our little make-shift butterfly cage / nursery. We have one inside its chrysalis still. It has been hard for me to find caterpillars on the milkweed plants. The wasps do a really good job of eating them.

Now that the milkweed is getting leafier, it is getting easier for the baby Monarchs to hide. I found two mid-size caterpillars today to add to the nursery.

The count as of today is :

4 released

1 inside chrysalis

2 medium size caterpillars

What is hydrogenated oil? Hydrogenated oil is the process of forcing hydrogen gas into oil at high pressure and temperature. It is used to take the place of butter in many baked items… some of the things that contain hydrogenated oils are crackers, cookies, frozen waffles, pudding, peanut butter, cereal bars, granola bars, prepared frozen foods, most prepared foods, soups (canned and powered), salad dressings, and more. Try picking up any item in the grocery store. Chances are that it will have partially or fully hydrogenated oils.

Listed on Oprah’s website in the ‘Food Hall of Shame’, “To increase their shelf life, Dr. Oz says certain oils are hydrogenated. This process turns the oil into a solid at room temperature, but it also makes the oil unhealthy. “This stuff is great because it doesn’t go bad, but it’s very bad for you,” says Dr. Oz. Avoid food products that contain hydrogenated oil, often labeled as ‘trans fats’.”

What makes hydrogenated oil bad for us?”. There are so many sites out there that provide detailed explanations on why it is bad, but in short, hydrogenated oil contains toxic trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids contribute to heart disease, cancer, MS, diabetes, and may contribute to other health problems that we have yet to find out about. The following link does an excellent job of explaining it: What’s Wrong with Partially Hydrogenated Oils?

Eric Armstrong has a great site that clearly explains the reasons why you should not eat anything with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. He also explain how to carry out an effective consumer boycott of the products that harm us. He says in this article, “It’s one thing not to buy a product. It’s even better to boycott the product in a way that it makes it less likely that others will buy it.” Eric writes, “…after a while, it hit me. I came up with a way to carry on a small, one-person boycott of unhealthy products in a way that has a larger impact. It’s pretty simple, really. When I find a product that has partially hydrogenated oils or High Fructose Corn Syrup, I put it back on the shelf upside down and backwards….as more and more people catch on to the concept, I’m betting it could have a huge impact. If nothing else, I leave the store knowing that I’ve done something. Even if I’ve only kept one product out of one person’s hands, it’s something”

I agree with this boycott strategy, and I will be starting to do it as well. I hope that more people catch on.

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.

Here are some pictures of a Florida Soft Shell Turtle laying eggs in my backyard.  This picture was taken in Lake Worth, Florida.

 Dear Andria,

This is a little late as it was meant to be a birthday gift for you, but I guess it is better late than never as the saying goes. This website is dedicated to you as a place for you to escape and write about all of the things you love such as butterfly gardening, bird watching, home schooling and growing with Jonny, anti-toxin research and awareness, and anything else that you desire. I will teach you how to post journal entries, pictures, and videos. No one can take away from your views, research, and love here. This is your place babe.

Welcome to your Butterfly Place!

I love You.
-Mike