The Buttas

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THE BUTTAS

...Continued from previous post:       
       In the small garden behind our host's house there grows a patch of bright orange flowers called butterfly weed.

      During our visit these butterfly weeds were living up to their name, as the plants were crawling with beautiful yellow- and black-striped monarch caterpillars,

...who apparently find the leaves most delicious and nourishing to nosh upon in this early stage of their journey to one day becoming monarch butterflies.

    And nosh these future butterflies did.

      These hungry little tenants - whom we nicknamed the Buttas - were objects of fascination for us all. Multiple times during the day we would go out to the butterfly weeds to check on the Buttas. 

     Concerned that the Buttas have a solid, secure structure from which to hang while they transformed from caterpillar into chrysalis into monarch, Tom moved some trellises from another part of the garden into the milkweed. patch,

...and gerryrigged together what hefigured would be a nice hanging structure for the ​chrysalides.

     Day by day the Buttas appeared well and thriving; the butterfly weeds, less and less so. For the plants were being stripped of their leaves by the very hungry caterpillars, who, it became clear, were about to run out of provisions in this garden patch.

      A grocery run was called for. And so on the last day of our visit Tom and I made a trip to Home Depot for more butterfly weeds.

     Last I saw, the Buttas appeared to be enjoying the extra munchies.

​​      Butta Update:
        We've been kept apprised of the progress of the Buttas. The first week in June, for the most part eschewing the fine trellis structure that had been built for them, they began attaching themselves upside down to various spots around the back yard,

...shedding their beautiful black, white, and yellow skin from the bottom up,

...until each had transformed into an emerald green chrysalis. The black bunching at the top is the remains of the skin.

      As of yesterday, June 13, the Buttas were still  ​chrysalides, leaving us all to ponder the how and why of the existential magic trick of a caterpillar disappearing then popping out of a bright green box in the identity of a butterfly.