the capsule 37/365

To complete the set of the Swan plant series - caterpillars, bulbs, monarch butterflies and now.....finally....the chrysalis. Quite impressed to get it without my macro...might need to get the macro lens on and see what happens next Friday!

Swan Plants and their buddies 17/365

I am quite fascinated by these plants - Swan plants...Why are they called Swan plants? There seems to be nothing remotely swan like about them. Nothing white. No Swan necks. No black bits. No sharp bits. AND NO feathery bits either.

Still, I am fascinated by their little buddies. Apparently the larvae of the Monarch butterfly feeds on nothing else except this 'unswanlike' plant. And when I say nothing else...I mean nothing else, not even sugary water. As they grow the caterpillars fairly much stripe the plant of all it's greenery. Surprisingly enough the plant does survive this gluttonous creature regenerates itself for the following years onslaught of Monarch larvae.

Monarch Larvae stripping a Swan Plant on PhotoPeach

First one of the Year! 1/365

New birth for a new year - the mother Monarch butterfly laying an egg on a new swan plant. Amazing sight to see when they flutter about in a mammoth garden and keep coming back to the mini tree. On google researching I discover that the Monarch lavae ONLY eat Swan plants or milkweed - nothing else!