I love seeing butterflies of all varieties in the garden. Munching caterpillars are not usually quite as welcome. For baby monarchs however, I happily make an exception. If you’re keen to experiment with monarch friendly gardening, check out the links below. They’re full of monarch information, our own garden activities and lessons learned, and helpful monarch gardening tips.
Supporting Monarchs in the Home Garden
There’s something marvellous and magical about the monarchs, isn’t there? Caterpillars are normally an annoying scourge to be deterred in the garden, Monarch babies, however, are invited and pampered. I even have sections of the garden especially for them, with fancy little protective nets and other garden gadgets. Wasps are something I’d normally scurry away from, but for my monarchs I go into baby protecting battle.
The linked posts below are from our special monarch gardening mini-series, shared here on the blog over our most recent monarch season. Check them out for photos of our monarchs at different stages of development, monarch friendly gardening tips, and more.
Planning and Planting a Monarch Friendly Garden
The Monarch Life Cycle
- Monarch Mating and Egg Laying
- Hatching and Caterpillar Development
- Forming a Chrysalis for Metamorphosis
- Eclosing as an Adult Monarch Butterfly
Supporting Monarch Caterpillars in the Garden
Farewell for the Season from the Monarch Garden
Our coldest part of the year is fast approaching here in New Zealand, but happy first week of summer to our northern friends and readers! This lovely little guy was the last (to my knowledge) monarch butterfly to hatch in our garden for the cycle. It was a rather damp and chilly autumn arrival in the world, so I offered him a lift. He happily hopped a ride on a flower from the shelter where he had emerged into the sunshine for warm up before flying away. A special farewell indeed.
