As I was picking some tomatoes for dinner last night I noticed several monarch caterpillars trying to make a living on some pretty marginal milkweed in the raised bed area. Even with trying to keep everything watered, this summer has been hot and dry and the milkweed has paid a price.
I was headed off to our weekly Wool House Crafters zoom meeting so I couldn't do anything about them right then, but this morning I headed out to see if I could find and move them to a couple of greener plants in the nearby B Garden.
I stewed about whether or not it was okay to do that, but a couple of them were pretty small and sickly looking. Moving them might be their only chance of making it to maturity. I carefully snipped their current leaves from the dried plants and placed them on a greener neighbor. Each caterpillar immediately started eating the fresh(er) leaves.
I hope everyone has had a good monarch summer. I've seen more butterflies this summer than I've seen the last ten years combined. Same with caterpillars. The one thing I'm not seeing...or finding...are their chrysalises. Hopefully they are out there and I should just stick to finding four leaf clovers.
I'd love to find at least one to watch open though.
What are you seeing your way?
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