Pests welcome!

Attention all cabbage loopers, army worms, webworms, diamond back moths, grasshoppers, slugs, aphids, fungal gnats, and all other damaging insects! Available vacancy at The Fox Den Garden; dining accommodations included.

I don't know which got here first (us or them), but anything chewing up our garden will either be food for praying mantises and ladybugs, or disposed of organically. Also, my 4-year old son, Rigel, likes adding new caterpillars to his bug jar...he's got quite the collection of cabbage worms and loopers.

When I think about it, nearly each and every plant in our vegetable garden was selected by myself or the kids for its enticing seed packet, then nurtured, obsessed over and observed every day since. We deserve to be a bit overprotective, right?

In other words, bring it on, bugs and worms.

Exception: Monarch caterpillars. Ever since our milkweed has bloomed, we've been keeping an eye out for those tiny monarch caterpillar eggs found hidden on the bottom of of the leaves. We finally found a few this morning! Last year we raised about 15 monarchs from caterpillar to butterfly outside our kid's window, and it was fascinating.

Adult caterpillars left behind only the stems of each plant--I had to buy more milkweed just to accommodate their voracious appetite!

This year we'll just be observers

(and hope we planted enough milkweed).
The best part of the project was releasing the butterflies...after their wings dried out (and after Mommy put down the camera).

I tried not to pay attention to the lovely black swallowtail butterfly that was laying eggs in our carrot greens this month, but of course--our carrot bed has now become a swallowtail butterfly habitat. I've counted 2 caterpillars, so far.

P.S. check out this charming Monarch butterfly on Etsy... it's handmade wool felt and can be a pin or a hair clip. I'm trying hard not to buy it, but I don't know how long that's going to last.

photo of felt butterfly credit: Etsy

Butterflies for the Holidays

We brought our milkweed "habitat" inside during the rainstorm, and 4 butterflies emerged from their cocoons (chrysalis). Rather than set them loose out in the rain and cold, we kept them indoors while we decorated the Christmas tree. The next morning, Rigel, Izzy, and Maz let them go in our front yard. The excited squeals of delight erupting from the kids (as their fingers got tickled by the "scratchy butterfly legs") was the best part of this whole experience.

Butterfly Window

We had 7 monarch cocoons (chrysalis) waiting for us when we got back from our Thanksgiving trip up north... there were still a couple "late bloomers" (see below) and a whole bunch more babies that had hatched.

This is one of the kids' windows, and has proven to be a perfect "butterfly raising" location. After a few mistakes, I've found the best way to raise your own monarchs is outside. Keeping the pots inside a larger storage bin corrals all the escapees (numerous caterpillars dropped off the milkweed until I figured this part out). Also, when placed right outside the window, it allows the kids to have some eye-level observation time without the hands-on worries (just close the window). It won't be long until we see some butterflies!

(Click here for more info on raising monarch caterpillars, and here for postings on Gulf Fritillary butterflies)

...Still More Butterflies to Arrive!

You’d think I would have had my fill of butterflies after successfully raising the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars we stole from Grandma Lana’s garden. Nope. I decided we were not done yet. While passing time at the nursery catty corner to Rigel and Izzy’s swim class, we happened upon a supply of milkweed-- and I couldn’t resist. It was a struggle not to squawk in protest when the cashier started to pluck off supposed aphid-infested leaves—did she know that on the leaf she just picked off a baby monarch caterpillar was crawling across? I silently retrieved the discarded leaf and tucked it safely into one of my three containers of milkweed. Hence, I have determined that raising butterflies requires a measure of obsessive-ness. All is worthwhile once the finished product emerges from its cocoon and perches upon your finger (or better yet, your little one’s fingers).












Above left: caterpillars hiding amidst the flowers. Above right: a tiny monarch egg, which turns dark green when it is about to hatch.

How To Raise Monarch Caterpillars

We attempted to raise monarch caterpillars last year, and gave up after many failed attempts. I think the best way to go is not to raise them in vented containers indoors as we did, but to observe them outdoors. Proper ventilation is a must, and so this time around we have our milkweed containers perched outside the kids' window. Milkweed is the only plant monarch butterflies lay their eggs upon, and thus the only plant monarch caterpillars eat. Not all nurseries carry it. Once you find some, be sure no pesticides were administered, or the likelihood of finding caterpillars on your plant is slim to nil. Look on the undersides of the leaves and inside the flower clusters for eggs and teeny caterpillars. If you are interested in raising your caterpillars indoors, visit http://www.glorious-butterfly.com/raising-monarchs.html for in-depth instructions. Otherwise, just place your containers outside in a safe spot (direct sun is fine), and observe as the caterpillars develop from chrysalis to butterfly!

...More Butterflies!

Another butterfly "hatched" this morning, and Izzy got a chance to let it rest on her fingers (Rigel got to hold our first butterfly). This fluttery fellow wasn't ready to fly yet, and seemed like he was stretching out his wings and getting rested up for his release. We set him outside on our little butterfly feeder (from Insect Lore) and watched him from the window. This was the first time we noticed how the underside of the wing has an opalescent sheen in the sunlight (the camera doesn't quite do justice). We've got about 5 or 6 more Gulf Fritillary caterpillars left, and it has been fun watching them grow from hairy squirmers to winged wonders.

Our First Butterfly!

(The last two images are the same butterfly, just after we released it. The underside of its wings are completely different from the orange color you see when it is perched on Rigel!)

Our first chrysalis (cocoon) has "hatched!" Izzy was sleeping, but Rigel got to hold the Gulf Fritillary butterfly before releasing it to flutter amongst our perennial hedges. We've got about 4 more cocoons and lots more caterpillars left, so Izzy will definitely get her turn, too (as Izzy would say, "Izzy turn! Izzy turn!").

More Caterpillars!

Yikes! Just in time for Halloween!
3 caterpillars in this picture: Can you see the tiny baby one in the middle?

We found more caterpillars at Grandma and Grandpa's house this weekend... Grandma Lana encouraged us to take as many as we could find home, since they were eating her passion vine. These hairy insects turned out to be Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae caterpillars, and the passion vine is their host plant. We found 20+ caterpillars and 4 live cocoons (chrysallis)! Now, let's see if we'll have more success observing these guys grow than we did with our attempt to raise monarchs. They are currently hanging up outside in

our "lady bug lantern" (from Insectlore), and they are not as ugly when viewed from a distance--Sorry if I scared anyone with the above close-up shots... I just love playing with the zoom on our camera.