Butterfly Wrangler

For anyone that doesn't already know this Jill and I have a soft spot for moths, bugs, butterflies and other insects.  Pollinators are a critical player in the web of life for everyone involved in the food chain - namely critters and people.  I struggle with the role of the nasty, sociopathic and invasive insect called the German yellow jacket wasp.  However that is another story and I digress.  

There's acres and acres of native prairie out back with a large medley of forbs - many of which were selected because they bloom consecutively throughout the pollinator season.  That way there is always pollen and nectar for our six-legged friends right up thru the fall of the year.  And seeds for the over-wintering birds.

Some of you reading this likely live in the city and may be puzzling about making a difference.  Urban wild habitat establishments can indeed have a measurable impact.  If more people took it upon themselves to propagate pollinator-friendly native plants - including milkweed - desirable insects would have one additional of six legs-up on a general decline of habitat elsewhere.  Urban wild habitat does made a difference.

The plantings around the house is largely native and there is milkweed absolutely everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  In recent years milkweed has spread throughout the turf grass in the yard. The result is that mowing the lawn has become something of an obstacle course.  Any milkweed - if for some reason - did have to be removed was inspected first for evidence of monarch eggs or larvae. 

Which led to this...

click on images for a closer look

 

No, we're not propagating milkweed on malted beverages.  Those beer bottles have been repurposed as vases for milkweed rescued from the yard because it had eggs or caterpillars on it.  And as a consequence the screen porch has now become a nursery for monarch butterfly larvae. 

How many can you count?







Ordinarily we would not recommend interfering-with or molesting wildlife - especially during the breeding or nesting season - yet sometimes human intervention has to occur if there is no other alternative.







After only a short while these monarch caterpillars have grown-up and begun their process of metamorphosis to an adult butterfly. 

And not a moment too soon as it would be nice to reclaim the futon without the caterpillar frass on the slip cover.












The slick thing about the screen porch is that following the emergence of these adult monarch butterflies all we have to do is open a door and let them flutter their way out.

Besides - a creative repurposing of beer bottles before they're off to be recycled...