The Swallowtail

Each year, as my {huge} fennel plant bears new shoots swallowtail butterflies are seen flying around my garden. And a couple weeks later I spot them. Itty bitty caterpillars. Once they're spotted, I check on them every single day. I watch them shed a layer of skin, crawl up and down the stems, and munch, munch, munch away at the fennel leaves. Very hungry caterpillars, indeed. They grow real fat and then build themselves a little cocoon where they stay snuggled up for a couple weeks. They attach their "home" to something sturdy with a very tiny tiny piece of silk thread, and it seriously looks like it will not hold up, especially through all the windy rain storms we've had lately. But it does. And before you know it a beautiful butterfly is birthed and the whole process starts over again. :) 

Hello, brand new butterfly ~ welcome to my little garden. :)
click here to view videos of monarch butterflies taking their first flight. Very cool!! 

One day I hope to have a large butterfly garden with all kinds of host plants that attracts a wide variety of butterflies - like parsley, dill, carrots, fennel, and milkweed. Oh, and lots of pretty flowers. :)