My Monarch butterfly garden

[throbgrist]

I did this one summer right after finishing Grade 7. The weeks beginning from late-June when I first collected a milkweed plant that had about six eggs to mid-Aug when the Monarchs hatched from their chrysalids were amazing and truly wonderous. I remember keeping a daily journal of what I observed. That was a long time ago & I wish I'd kept those notes. I think every child should do this for one summer in their lives. You get a real reverence & understanding for the complexity of nature.

[Cetaceans4life]

I loved this video! I'm thinking of starting a butterfly garden of my own!

[Bubbles0761]

I love this video! I am currently raising to monarch caterpillars, which i found in my yard yesterday and brought in to raise indoors. They are the only 2 that survived on my milkweed. One is a newly hatched 1st instar and is quite oversized, about twice the size of a normal 1at instar monarch caterpillar, and the other is a developed egg, which will probably emerge sometime this evening. I look forward to raising these two "siblings" and releasing them as butterflies!!!!

[livesimplifiedlife]

thanks for an informative and entertaining video.

Do caterpillars spin their cocoon on the milkweed plants or on something else?

[Bubbles0761]

@livesimplifiedlife the cocoon can be spun on any surface that the caterpillars find suitable.

[pazculturayamor]

Wow this was a real nice video...makes me proud to be from a state that has the Monarch butterfly as the official state animal and symbol. Michoacan Mexico.

[TheBrassHole]

This video is great. Thanx for posting.

[Tomlears]

@TheBrassHole thank you BrassHole...so glad that you enjoyed watching it!

[lawndaisies]

The caterpillars are beautiful, too

[Tomlears]

@lawndaisies Yes...I thought the caterpillars were beautiful also...their colors so striking and they photographed well.

[rubberducknecklace]

That was cool!

[Tomlears]

@rubberducknecklace thank you...glad that you enjoyed it!

[Zoulvisia]

At the moment i have a swan plant growing in my garen with caterpillars all over it unforunatly only two have survived as many have been eaten by wasps D;

[Tomlears]

@Zoulvisia you have "Monarch" caterpillars all over a "Swan" plant????...hmmmmm...never known them to feed on anything but a milkweed plant??????...and never heard of them being eaten by wasps either...where do you live?

[Zoulvisia]

@Tomlears

Swan plant is a type of milkweed, its pretty much the only type of milkweed available in NZ which is where i live. In NZ there are lots of wasps and they seem to feast on the caterpillars. poor babies D:

[Tomlears]

@Zoulvisia thank you for replying...that was interesting and certainly something that I didn't know...I love the butterflies...ALL of them...we've also raised swallowtails before....can't anymore as we lost our lemon and lime trees...haha

[Zoulvisia]

@Tomlears

Im also a big fan of butterflys. So far ive only tried raising monarch but also in new zealand we have red admiral butterflys. Ive considered an attempt at rasising them but the plant which they eat has very sharp stinging spines which even the slightest touch can cause a painful sting for even several days. 1 man has even been killed by them. Scary

[runesick]

these are wonderful creatures, i saved 2 from being killed by a lawn mower, and now there in their nice warm pupa, i plan on letting em go when there adults.

[Tomlears]

@runesick well bless your heart...glad you were able to do that...they are so fascinating to watch...hope you enjoyed it.

[cellphone2k]

That was awesome. Thank You for posting it!

[Tomlears]

@cellphone2k well thank you very much...glad you enjoyed that.

[harley543210]

That was Great.! Nice Job.!!

[Tomlears]

@harley543210 well thank you sir...I appreciate that!

[Historybuff1940]

Wow! That is fascinating! I learned a lot that I did not know! Thanks for sharing this! Keep posting great videos like this! AWESOME!

[Tomlears]

@Historybuff1940 and thank you sir...I will certainly try!...glad that you found that fascinating to watch!