First are the Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars.  We have quite a few of these now, we’ve counted around 20, but our Fennel is so thick, I’m sure there are some we are missing.

In this picture, you can see 3 of them.  They are all around the same size.

Three Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars On Fennel

This picture below is of a different Fennel plant.  In this picture you can only see two.  I’ll get my macro lens out soon and take some close up shots, as they way these Caterpillars look now is nothing how they look once they get a bit bigger.

Two Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars On Fennel

Our Monarch Caterpillars are a bit tricky to get pictures of right now.  All of our Milkweed is quite small, as are the Caterpillars.  To the best of my knowledge, these Caterpillars are all from the same female Monarch that we saw a couple of weeks ago.  We haven’t seen one Monarch since then (which is rather strange actually).

Are other people seeing Monarchs right now in the Houston area?  I would have thought we would have seen several by now, but either they are visiting during the afternoon when we aren’t here, or they just haven’t been around.  I’m going to assume the latter, as we haven’t seen any new eggs on the Milkweed.

Young Monarch Caterpillars On New Milkweed

Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly Laying Eggs In Mass Of Fennel

After she laid quite a few eggs on the Fennel and Dill, she flew to the Coral Honeysuckle to stretch her wings and rest (or perhaps warm up).

Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly Resting On Coral Honeysuckle

I previously had about 10 milkweed plants (which have been in pots that I take indoors when it gets too cold), and bought 6 more.  I also bought 2 new cigar plants (a favorite among Hummingbirds, Bees, and Butterflies), a new Blood Orange tree (gave my other small one to my neighbor),  1 Munsted Lavender, 1 French Lavender, 1 Godwin Creek Lavender, 4 Sweet Onions, 1 Cherry Tomato, 1 Dill, 1 Trailing 1 Purple Lantana, 1 Texas Lantana, 1 Giant Dutchman’s Pipevine, 2 Dutch Pipevine, 1 Russelia Desert Fire, 1 Fuchsia Gartenmeister, 2 Black Eyed Susan, and 1 Mexican Flame Vine.

Oh, and before I forget, I also bought 45 bags of hardwood mulch, 20 bags of potting soil, and 1 triple layer bird bath.

In case you’re wondering, my back, legs, and arm are killing me:-).

I’m including some pictures so y’all can see what my backyard looks like in the very beginning of the season as well as what some of these plants look like.

Below is a picture of my cigar plant as a result of the very cold winter.  This is probably my favorite plant for Butterfly Gardening as Hummingbirds, Bees, and Butterflies all love this plant (at least when it doesn’t look like this).

Freeze Damaged Cigar Plant

Here is a picture of the new Cigar Plant I planted today.

Cigar Plant 2010

Below is some of my Milkweed that was outdoors all Winter, and obviously freeze damaged.

Freeze Damaged Milkweed

Here’s a picture of my Milkweed that we would take indoors when it got below freezing.

Bunch Of Mexican Milkweed

And here’s some Milkweed I bought from Joshua’s Native Plants (some of the lushest Milkweed I’ve ever seen).  I couldn’t fit all of the Milkweed into the Butterfly cage.  I’m hopefully protecting these new plants from Aphids which are all over the Milkweed in the picture above.

Lush Milkweed And Butterfly Cage

Leecy planted a bunch of Herbs in our garden.  Many of these Herbs also serve as host plants for Butterflies.  In a few months you probably won’t even be able to see the pool in the background as many of these plants become quite large.

View Of Garden 2010

Here’s a picture of the Rose Garden, Bird Feeders, and my new triple layer Bird Bath.  The birds seemed a little nervous about the new Bird Bath, but hopefully they’ll adjust.  By the way, most of the Roses are antique Roses, and none of them had any damage this Winter.

Triple Layer Bird Bath And Rose Garden

I was going to post pictures of some of the individual plants, but instead will just post a picture of how the “nectar” section of the Butterfly Garden looks right now.  I can list the individual plants in this section if folks are interested.

Nectar Section Of Butterfly Garden