Yesterday I was out in the garden picking peas when a lonely little Monarch butterfly came fluttering by. As I am a bit of a butterfly nut, I watched her (Yes, I do know how to identify the sexes of Monarch butterflies) checking out my milkweed plants.

I planted the milkweed several years ago and it has pretty much become established in my garden. I've actually been a war with it this year. I wanted a few plants to feed to the caterpillars, once established Milkweed has a tendency to get out of control. I currently have about 20 plants with 1/2 of them growing right in the middle of the yard.

Well, this butterfly stopped on one of the smaller tender plants and I noticed her bending her abdomen down from time to time. I had never seen this before but when I checked the plants after she left I noticed she had deposited about a dozen eggs on several of the plants.

So, next week they will hatch and I'll be busy raising caterpillars. If you are interested in how this is done, check my Squidoo lens located on my profile page.

Craig