Here's Maya still in her jammies and with great bed-head getting ready to release a monarch.
POSTED BY KIM — Interesting things are always going on at my little house. I have two crazy kids, two crazy cats, two (new) dwarf hamsters, and butterflies in the kitchen. (Not to mention my husband — don’t get me started! 
Every year my kids and I collect Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars from the milkweed in my yard. We place them in a little clear plastic box with a slotted lid, then watch them as they travel through their lifecycle to the cocoon stage. When they “hatch,” we let them go. We always identify which ones are male or female, which you can do by checking their wings — males have black dots at the base of their wings, and females don’t. I learned that little tidbit from Tina at Sugar Creek.
The host plant for Monarchs is asclepias, or milkweed. There are several perennial varieties, and also tropical varieties, which are more floriferous — the tropical plants are the ones that we’ve had the best luck attracting momma butterflies to lay eggs. Once planted, asclepias do not like to be disturbed, but are quite drought-tolerant because of its taproot. Happiest in full sun.
They provide hours of entertainment because of the butterflies they attract! It’s quite spectacular.
Fly away! Fly away!
- Not a great picture, but still cool. The green cocoons turn translucent right before the butterflies hatch.
Here's one of the green cocoons. Notice the gold detailing! It would make a perfect earring.
This picture makes me laugh! That butterfly was on Maya's finger and right as I clicked the camera, it flew away.
1 Comment
October 17, 2009 at 7:32 pm
What a wonderful learning experience for your kids — and, for us.