A Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis!

I was out in our school garden this afternoon and what should I find? A monarch butterfly chrysalis! For the past three years I have been trying to get our milkweed to grow strong and for monarch butterflies to find it.  This year they finally did!

I can't wait to see if it hatches in 10 - 14 days. I have been reading online how only about 10% of the caterpillars go on to become butterflies...there are a host of predators out there!  On Monday, if the chrysalis is still there, I will bring it inside to hatch and then release it back into our garden.

Monarchs in our Garden!

I went outside to water the school garden today and what should I see? Almost a dozen monarch caterpillars eating milkweed leaves!  They are big and look awesome!  I also saw a Monarch butterfly flitting about the plants.  Maybe she was looking for a place to lay some eggs!

Our Gorgeous Garden!

As summer kicks into gear, our garden is starting to show it's beauty!  They kids have done such a good job growing plants, watering, weeding and caring for the garden that it's not a surprise it looks so amazing!

The red basil was started in our wall farm in the
cafeteria. 

Lots of tomatoes!

Cantaloup and watermelon!

First strawberries!

Lettuce originally grown in the wall farm in
the cafeteria!

Tomatoes starting to grow!

A ladybug eating aphids!

A beautiful Question Mark butterfly.

A monarch visiting our milkweed!

A monarch egg!

A very small monarch caterpillar eating our milkweed!

 I can't wait to see how the garden looks in September!  Have a great summer!

A Monarch Caterpillar in our Butterfly Garden!

What a surprise!  After two years of growing milkweed as part of our pollinator garden, I found a monarch caterpillar!

Three different types of milkweed in our garden!

Busy exploring the indoor habitat.

It started out quite small, but doubles in size every few days.

After showing all the classes the hungry caterpillar, I noticed it was getting sluggish and put the caterpillar back in our garden to finish it's journey!  Hopefully we will find more caterpillars.  There certainly is evidence they are around!

Calling All Citizen Scientists!

I spotted two Monarch butterflies yesterday in Prospect Park!  It looks like they have migrated from Mexico and finally made it to Brooklyn!

Monarch Watch recently sent out an email requesting help from citizen scientists to help collect data on Monarch Butterflies in their area.  It is simple to record your observations and you will be helping scientists gather information about Monarch activity. http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2017/03/31/new-monarch-watch-citizen-scientist-project/

I have been recording my observations on Journey North. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch.html  There is even an app that you can download!