Growing Flutterbys

A miracle of nature is taking place at our studios. It all started with a tiny seed. Bought from our local Westie grow shop Easygrow and no, it's not what you think. It was for a Giant Swan plant, the favourite food of Monarch butterflies. That seed turned into a plant which was munched by a fat caterpillar, which is slowly turning into a butterfly in my studio. It's been an amazing saga of truimph and defeat. One of our caterpillars made it, the other didn't. He made a juicy feast for a preying mantis, watched with morbid fascination by Chelfyn. So the survivor was brought inside for protection, which is what the experts advise to give your butterfly the best start in life.

The monarch caterpillar is an adventurous fellow, and quite speedy when he wants to be. After his relocation indoors we found ours motoring up the wall at quite a fair clip. They look like they've been drizzled in white and yellow icing, and they have a voracious appetite. The poor swan plants have been stripped of their leaves but after a giant poo and literally overnight our boy reached pupa-ty.



Being a small child inside I've been checking on him regularly. He was still a fat caterpillar at a quarter to three, hanging under a leaf like a letter J. At nine in the morning I thought he'd gone off exploring again. Until I spotted the bright green pupa hanging where our fat little fellow had been. You can see the veins where his/her wings will be, and there is an iridescent 'zip' where he'll emerge as a gorgeous monarch butterfly in a couple of weeks. And all from growing a plant from a tiny seed!



If you want to grow your own Monarch Butterflies then read this excellent guide from The Otago Museum. Lucky Westies like me can vist the West Lynn Garden and Butterfly House which is open from 10 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. every day of the year: http://www.westlynngarden.org.nz/