Tuesday, February 14, 2012

2.14.12 Queen Butterfly

When we arrived home from our boating trip, we had 3 Chrysalis on the plants on the porch. One emerged the next day. It was a Queen.

We took our camper/hauler to Silver Springs, FL for a “test camp” for 3 nights in a campground. The ‘28 Buick went along and we went to 3 car shows. Once got rained out…one we left early and the next one Jim got a trophy for “most unique”.

When we got home the second Chrysalis was empty and the 3rd was turning black. Normally that is the day it emerges….it didn’t. That night we had a heavy frost. The plant and Chrysalis were on the porch with the vinyl, but I was concerned that it might freeze. Today it emerged.

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By afternoon, it was gone. They don’t normally eat the first day. And there are a few Bottlebrush blooms. The tree farm about 1/4 mile down the road has a lot of Bottlebrush so I know it will have plenty to eat.

I still have 5 Chrysalis in the Butterfly House in the Florida room (fancy words for screen room with sliding doors), and 1 Queen caterpillar and 1 Monarch caterpillar.

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Most of my Milkweed plants have very few leaves, so there won’t be many eggs laid until they start growing again.

2 comments:

  1. Congrats to Jim on most unique.

    Hope the camper worked out for your shake down.

    I can almost feel the warmth, like a chrysalis in the butterfly house. Thanks for doing this, and sharing with us.

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  2. I'm glad to see the butterflies start to emerge again. It seems really early to me for that, but then I live in a very different climate.

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