You may remember this post about our precious string of monarch chrysalis we had before Christmas. All of the chrysalis successfully hatched out. Next thing we knew we had lovely stripy caterpillars on our swan plants. Oscar was fascinated with them and often I would find him outside talking to them.
Last week Bob invited us to visit his butterfly garden. When we arrived a storm was brewing and we found him outside harvesting the chrysalis that were at risk from being damaged by the wind. The kids had fun trying to help him hunt for them.
The garden is planted out with butterfly friendly plants, flowers and of course lots of swan plants which the caterpillars eat. There were literally hundreds of caterpillars and chrysalis everywhere you looked.
Inside Bob showed us all the chrysalis he had harvested over the past day. Too bad if you needed to dry the washing inside!
We were lucky to take a few more strings home with us and I hung them in the children's play room. Every morning we have been waking to find 5-8 butterflies in the house. After their wings have dried we take them outside to the garden.
If you need any help or advice on the Monarch butterfly or just interested in how you can help in the proliferation of the butterflies in New Zealand, join Bob's Facebook page here.
