My plan was to place each of the 6 Monarchs on this Cherry Blossom and take a few pictures.  Of course that plan failed miserably as soon as we took the Butterflies out of the enclosure, they flew away.  All but this one, who took a few moments to warm up before flying away.

New Monarch Butterfly On Cherry Blossoms

While I was taking a moments to water our plants I noticed a Gulf Fritillary and a Monarch Butterfly feeding on the Mexican Flame Vine.

Monarch With Torn Wing Feeding On Mexican Flame Vine

This female Monarch looks like she was attacked by something, likely a bird, as a significant part of her wing is missing.  Despite the partial loss of her wing, it didn’t seem to hinder her flying to any degree, and she should have nice weather for most of the week.

Monarch With Spread Wings One Torn

You’ll notice that the tops of the Mexican Flame Vine has some freeze damage.  I’m not sure how low the temperature can be before this plant starts to die off.  We still have quite a few blooms on the lower branches and all Butterflies tends to be drawn to this plant.

Monarch With Torn Wing On Cluster Of Mexican Flame Vine

Monarch With Torn Wing Resting On Flame Vine

Strangely enough, we have quite a few Monarch Butterflies right now.  We’ve been releasing 1-2 Monarchs per day for the last couple of weeks.  In a way, this makes some sense.  In October and November, the Monarchs we saw were likely migrating to Mexico and had not yet mated.  The Monarch Butterflies we are seeing right now have definitely mated, and are laying lots of eggs.  As we find the Caterpillars, we bring them inside and give them fresh Milkweed.  Could these just be local Monarchs that spend much of their time in the warmer climates?  They definitely don’t appear to be as worn as the October/November Monarchs were.  Another little interesting tidbit.  The majority of the Monarchs that we have been releasing have been female.  I’d say the ratio is like 3:1.

Right now we have 2 female Monarchs that we should be able to release tomorrow, and there’s a good chance another 2-3 will become Butterflies by morning.

We also have several Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars, Chrysalises, and Butterflies.  We haven’t been bringing in as many Caterpillars from this species inside as they tend to hide a bit better than the Monarchs (at least in our yard).

We’ve had a few days of below freezing temperatures, but not for very long (typical of Houston).  We have been covering much of our outdoor Milkweed with a clear shower curtain (Leecy’s idea) and that appears to give the Milkweed sufficient light, protects them from frost, and also serves as a nice bit of insulation.

Fortunately for the Butterflies, we still have quite a few Nectar plants (Lantana, Milkweed, Penta, Mexican Flame Vine) that have been providing the necessary food that these insects require.

This upcoming week is also Christmas!  Leecy says she doesn’t want anything for Christmas and wants to do something for a needy family so we’re going shopping tomorrow to buy some presents for whomever we decide to give them to.  There is a family we are thinking about that have 3 kids, so we talked about buying 3 bikes for them.  My idea is just do drop the bikes off during Christmas Eve night and let them think it’s from Santa.  I’d prefer they not know they were from Leecy and I.

Also this upcoming week I’ll be receiving my rented Canon 300mm f2.8 lens.  I’m really looking forward to shooting with this lens.  If I like it, and I don’t end up taking that trip to Mexico, I’ll probably end up buying one early next year.

That’s about it on this end.  I’m going to try and take some pictures of the Monarch Butterflies that we’ll release tomorrow so check back if you’re interested in seeing the pictures.

The Butterflies that were really abundant today were the Gulf Fritillaries.

Gulf Fritillary On Milkweed Dark Background

The Mexican Milkweed appeared to be a popular gathering place for both the Monarchs and the Fritillaries.  Sometimes the Fritillaries and Monarchs would share the Milkweed, other times they would chase each other.

Monarch And Gulf Fritillary On Milkweed

If the chasing became too intense, the Butterflies would separate and find another private place

Gulf Fritillary On Milkweed Wings Spread

One plant that I have heard is a wonderful nectar plant for Butterflies but never actually witnessed them utilizing the plant for nectar is the Mexican Flame Vine.

Today was different.  Both the Monarchs and Fritillaries were drawn to this plant, but it was the Fritillaries who were all over it.

Gulf Fritillary On Mexican Flame Vine

Another Butterfly that was flying around the garden today was the Cloudless Sulphur.  Unlike the other two Butterflies, this particular Butterfly was drawn to the Cigar Plant.  It helps that this Butterfly has a long proboscis so it could easily tap into the nectar of these plants.

Cloudless Sulphur On Cigar Plant

Cloudless Sulphur Drinking Nectar From Cigar Plant

I want to include a couple additional pictures for reference.  If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know many of our plants were wiped out during the past winter.

Look at the nectar garden now versus how it looked back in February.  Pretty drastic turnaround don’t you think?

Butterfly And Hummingbird Wildflower Garden

Nectar Section Of Butterfly Garden

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