Today’s photos are from Barb Mrgich in East Berlin, Pennsylvania (Zone 6b). We’ve visited Barb’s beautiful garden before (From Barren Lot to Pollinator Paradise), and today’s she’s focusing on all the beautiful butterflies that visit her garden.
One of the best things about gardening for wildlife is learning more about butterflies and enjoying their beauty. The two species of butterfly I see most often in my gardens are monarchs and eastern tiger swallowtails. The swallowtail is a resident (spends its winter right here in PA), and the monarch is a migrating butterfly who flies well over a thousand miles to spend its winter in Mexico.
A monarch gathers nectar from tithonia (Tithonia rotundifolia, annual), a flower that is popular with many pollinators.
A lovely eastern tiger swallowtail gathers nectar from a zinnia.
To attract more butterflies, it’s important to understand a few general details. All butterflies start out as a tiny egg on a suitable host plant. The egg hatches into a threadlike caterpillar that eats the leaves of the host plant. When large enough, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis, where it will undergo complete metamorphosis and emerge as a butterfly. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed. These milkweed leaves have been brought into the house to protect them from predators.
These are full-grown monarch caterpillars. They will soon be ready to form their chrysalises.
A monarch has now formed its chrysalis, where will remain until it emerges as a butterfly. The chrysalis of most butterflies is not nearly as attractive as that of the monarch. Notice the gold line that encircles the top like a jeweled necklace! This is attached to the top of the jar where I brought the eggs for safe-keeping. When the
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