Tag: monarch butterfly

We Had a Girl! (Monarch Butterfly That Is)

We have milkweed planted throughout the yard as well as in containers. The other day – just about 3 days ago – I found a new chrysalis hanging from a flower pot. I watched it change from pale green to darker shades.

This morning, I went out to look at the chrysalis, but as I had hidden it behind some other plants, to keep it moist in the hot, dry wind, I didn’t really get a good view of it.

Then the gardener came – and blew everything everywhere. When he left, I looked, and the chrysalis was empty. I hoped the butterfly had not been blown out of its home before it could become a butterfly . . . actually, I was really upset! I was sure I had been stupid not to tell the garden to stay away from that area. I was convinced the butterfly-in-waiting was dead.

And then I bent down, and before I knew it, a monarch butterfly fluttered to the ground. It was her – definitely a her as there are no scent markings on her wings!

In time, I got her to climb onto a milkweed branch and carried her to a bigger plant. She sat there for a few hours. I took this video and some pictures. A bit after doing something in the house, I went back out. She was still on the bush – but then she flew off, over the fence and into the sky.

Butterfly in Waiting

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of my all time favorites. Story is good, but for me, the illustrations make it!

We have a wild and wonderful gardener in our family, Am, who got several of us started on milkweed plants. As a kid, we had them in the midwest, but they were very different than the ones which are the dietary staple of the monarch butterfly. She hands out plants to whoever wants them!

This seems to be my butterfly nursery. This is only one of many fat caterpillars – hopefully they are forming cocoons and not getting snatched up by the local wildlife. Sad if they are, but hopefully not, but such is the cycle of life.

Milkweed

Milkweed is a plant the oozes a milky substance when injured, such as cutting it. This ooze is rather thick and can irritate some people. When I was a kid, the milkweed in our area produced big pods that split open, and all the seeds flew off in the wind. It was always a fun thing to see.

Here in California – and I expect much of the western US – there is a different type of milkweed. This one is vital for the health of Monarch butterflies, and sadly, its presence is diminishing. The result is fewer butterflies every year. There is a concerted effort by gardeners and conservationists to propagate the milkweed, as well as to preserve it in the wild. Like the plant of my childhood, this one oozes and has windborne seeds, but has flowers (don’t recall ever seeing milkweed flowers as a kid) that come in yellow and dark orange.

I have milkweed in my garden, thanks to Am, my lovely auntie! Last year I lost it all because of rats, along with my lilies, but this year, thanks to bait stations, it is surviving. So, yesterday, a bit restless, I took out some Polychromos pencils, a pad of paper, and got to work.

WWM #8: Flying High

If you have ever seen a sky full of Monarch Butterflies, you know what it is like!  Nothing can describe it.  The #WorldWatercolorMonth2019 prompt “Flying High” brought to mind this event, and so here we have a resting butterfly to be admired, and the rest are on their way to their next habitat.

I had planned on doing this with watercolor pencil and other water-soluble media, but we have a studio problem – things are packed up because of a slab leak!  Hopefully it will be done by the end of today, and for a reasonable cost, but the result is that 95% of my art supplies are out of the studio, packed safely away in boxes and such.  I couldn’t find the pencils anywhere.  Perhaps it was for the best, as I pulled out my Japanese watercolors, gansai, and enjoyed working with these old friends once more.