They never even slowed down at my house as soon as my milk weed leafs out they lay eggs and eat them down to sticks.

Awww!

I think this is a continuation of that one Monarch chrysalis I nursed through my first Winter here. There always seems to be an adult and cats around now. Makes me so happy.

My little buddy was hanging on for dear life during the wind and rain storm!

Monarchs are our favorite butterflies, which is my my wife Suzanne and I breed them, and then release them into nature. Their numbers in the wild are diminishing, so we're doing what we can to increase the population. To protect the monarchs in our garden in Naples (Zone 10b) from birds and other predators, we installed a large (36-by-60-foot) covered screened enclosure, which we also use as a sunny and mosquito-free dining patio. In the enclosure, we planted dozens of flowering milkweeds, which provide the only leaves monarch caterpillars eat. The butterflies lay their eggs on the milkweeds, and the caterpillars that hatch out dine on the leaves. When they grow large enough, they create their chrysalides (which are like cocoons) where they develop, and weeks later emerge as beautiful monarch butterflies. The adults feast en masse on the nectar of the flowering shrubs in our garden, as shown above.

In nature, the chrysalides would normally be hung from branches, but in our enclosure, as you can see, they seem to prefer to hang from the enclosure frame. When the green covering become transparent, we love watching the new butterflies emerge and spread their wet wings out to dry. They eventually take their first flight in the enclosure, totally safe from predators. Now when we dine, we have literally hundreds of butterflies flying all around us, and occasionally landing on our hands. Here's a photo we took of two pairs of monarchs mating to produce the next generation.Since we starting breeding monarchs, we've also bred five other local native species of butterflies, providing the specific varieties of plants necessary to feed their own caterpillars. We've never before felt closer to nature. Our visitors have the same reaction, especially the members of our Gardeners of Southwest Florida group. The club schedules free gardening classes two or three times a month throughout the year. The classes are sometimes held in our garden and its enclosure, where the members are fascinated to be surrounded by hundreds of butterflies. Classes are often held in the gardens of many other members as well, so that members can see each host's favorite plants and gardening techniques. Class topics range from butterfly gardening to dozens of other subjects designed to make Floridians better gardeners.Everything in the group is free: membership, classes, snacks, drinks, etc. Its extensive and informative web site at www.meetup.com/FloridaGardeners includes hundreds of photos and full details of the 123 previous gardening classes and upcoming classes. Over 1,300 families with gardens around Naples and Fort Myers are current members of the group, and more are always welcome. Whether you'd like to attract butterflies to your property or learn other gardening techniques, we feel you'd enjoy meeting many other local gardeners by joining this free group.Peter Kacalanos and Suzanne Cherney, leaders, Gardeners of Southwest Florida