There are a total of 5 videos, each one is less than 2 minutes long.  Watching these should give you a decent idea of how to start (or continue) a successful Butterfly Garden.

In this first video, I talk about how to buy Milkweed, what prices you should expect to pay (at least in Houston), how to tell if you have healthy Milkweed, and how to plant your Milkweed plants.

In this second video clip, I talk about the importance of having Nectar plants for your Butterfly Garden.  I also show a brief clip of my Butterfly Enclosures.

By the way, some good nectar plants I recommend are Penta, Salvia, Purple Coneflower, Lantana, Butterfly Bush, and the Cigar Bush.

In this third video clip, I talk about some other Host Plants for your Butterfly Garden including, Pipevine, Fennel, and Citrus Trees.

In the fourth video clip, I talk about some additional Host Plants for Butterflies including Spicebush and Passion Vine,  as well as what kinds of Butterflies you can expect to attract with the different Host Plants.

In this fifth and final video clip I talk about some additional Butterfly Gardening tools such as portable Butterfly Enclosures and long tweezers.

If you have any questions about these videos, where to buy plants or the additional Butterfly Gardening tools, just send me an email or leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy and it makes sense!

Leecy and I took in about 7 Monarch Caterpillars about a week ago.  Only 2 of them made it to Chrysalis, the rest of them are just “dangling” straight down (not in a “J” shape).  I don’t know if they had OE disease or perhaps were attacked by the Tachinid Fly, or maybe something else.

UPDATE:  It’s probably from the Tachinid Fly.  See this link for the gory details (the fly larvae eat the Caterpillars from the inside out).

For folks who just recently started reading my blog, I have posted about parasites and diseases in Monarchs in earlier postings.  Besides the information that I posted previously, Valerie also has an excellent site about Monarch Butterflies and their diseases and parasites and goes into much more detail than I have.  If you’re curious about raising Monarch Butterflies (and the hazards that can occur), I would definitely recommend checking out her site as well.  You can find it at Evanson Art & Design.

I just took some pictures of what I was talking about above.  First, are the dead Monarch Caterpillars.  I’m pretty sure it’s because of the Tachinid Fly.  If you look closely at the images you can see that white string coming out the Caterpillars.  The Caterpillar on the far left is starting to liquefy.

Monarch Caterpillar Disaster

This image shows those “strings” protruding from the Caterpillars.  You can also see that the Chrysalis is starting to have problems as well.

Caterpillar Carnage

Here’s a closeup of the Chrysalis from the photo above.  It’s turning brown after one day, which is not a good sign.  You can also see a “string” from this Chrysalis as well.

I ended up destroying (if they weren’t dead already) all the Caterpillars and Chrysalis from these images (tossed in a ziploc baggie, thrown in the freezer).

Closeup Of Monarch Chrysalis Parasite

Aphids.  Normally I don’t stress too much about these little pokemon looking critters, but some of my Milkweed is just covered in these things and I’m sure it’s causing some stress on the plants.  I tried last weekend to pick up some Ladybugs to but the places I went too were sold out.  I’ll try again this weekend.  The challenge will be keeping the Ladybugs around long enough to eat most of these Aphids as I don’t think they care too much for this super hot, humid weather we are having.

Swarm Of Aphids

Another pest, but normally not a huge one for me.  This guy just happened to land nearby when I was taking pictures.  I’m not sure if this is the tachinid fly or just a regular housefly.  Either way, I consider it a pest.

Red Eye

This thing is a monster!  Look at those legs?  I can’t remember what these things are called and I’m too tired to look it up, but whenever I see one, I squash em.

Bad Bug

Just for the record, I don’t dislike all bugs, just the ones that eat or destroy Butterfly caterpillars or mess up my plants.  For good measure, I thought I would throw in a picture of a “good guy.”  Although I do have quite a few nectar plants in the garden, it seems that lately the Honeybees are more attracted to the flowers (and pollen?) on the Fennel.

Honeybee

My weapon of choice for these guys?  A long pair of tweezers works perfectly:-).

Assassin Bug