Butterflies!

I've been hatching butterflies! I grow many different kinds of butterfly host plants and food plants so I can I can entice them into my garden. When I find butterfly eggs, I collect a few, hatch them out and feed them until they go into chrysilis. Usually, after about two weeks or so, they hatch and I let them go back into my garden. I sometimes also provide teachers and parents a few so they can enjoy the wonder of a butterfly!

Last fall, we had so many late caterpillars that I began to worry they would freeze. I collected as many as I could and put them into my container. They went into chrysilis but didn't hatch before winter set in. I had always read that some would overwinter and not migrate but I had never had any do it.

A few days ago, I began cleaning off the backporch and found my container. I almost dumped the container but got busy and forgot. In the last six days, I have released eight  black swallowtails into my garden! I am so excited I could just bust! I guess this confirms the fact that I am just a hopeless science nerd but I don't care!