Friday, October 15, 2010

Encore! Encore!

While removing the protective wire cover from my unsuccessful lone cauliflower plant, look what I found! Another chrysalis! After spotting the last one way back on August 4th, I'm surprised to see this one so late in the season on October 7th. (This is the first year I've noticed one at all, and I was uninformed about the multi-generational aspects of the process until finding this link.)

Just beautiful! I felt badly about disturbing it's position on the cauliflower plant....
...so I placed it near where I'd spotted that first one in August, here on my big bluestem grass.
I hope it can still metamorphize with the chilly night temps (as of Thursday, October 14th it still looks pretty much like this...I wonder if they are injured by cold snaps?)

8 comments:

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Yeah, the generations are interesting--I always thought, also, that it was one generation that migrated to Mexico, but it isn't, either.

lisa said...

I felt silly discovering all the things I didn't know about Monarchs that many schoolchildren could probably tell me. Not too late to open my own "home school" for myself I suppose :)

meemsnyc said...

What an awesome find! I hope it survives.

lisa said...

Me too! The cool temps seem to really slow the process, I checked again today (Oct. 18th), and it looks pretty much the same :(

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a beautiful pic! It looks like a xmas ornament. :)
v.

lisa said...

Hey, you're right! That would be a wicked cool ornament, too :)

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

LOL, the garden IS a home school!

lisa said...

You're right about that! Finally on the 25th I found the chrysalis was gone...hopefully due to completion of the metamorphasis and not some unfortunate accident.