Ending the silence.

Hi guys, we've had a little lapse in blog posts. The heat has hit us hard, but now on this cool Wednesday I think an update is in order.

Monarchs are doing well, at last count we have had around 48 caterpillars pupate, hopefully they will be emerging as adults in the next 7-10 days. As soon as they do emerge they'll get to work on the next generation of homegrown Monarchs. For now we'll be keeping the males and females separate to control the number of eggs laid, otherwise they'll eat up all of our milkweed again.

We're right in the middle of leaf mimic month. Everyone who stops by should be sure to catch a glimpse at one of these leaf mimics before they leave, let a staff member know and we'll show you where to look.

Keep your eyes peeled while you're outdoors! Prime Monarch season is upon us, VA peaks around Sep 19th - Oct 1st according to Monarch watch so we're about a month out from the peak.

Monarch photos.

Promised I'd give you guys photos, sorry its taken so long.

Here is a photo of a mating pair of Monarchs. The female in the photo was seen depositing eggs for several days after this photo was taken. By that time many if not all of the males had expired.

Here is a photo of one of the Monarch eggs.

Here is an early instar Monarch larvae, I'm thinking 2nd instar.

Here is an older larvae, the difference in age is only a couple days.

This photo shows how the larvae seem to cluster on the new growth / flower buds. They seem to like to eat both flower buds and newly developed seed pods.