The Monarch Butterfly
is probably the best recognized butterfly around. People often plant
Asclepias tuberosa to encourage the Monarch Butterflies to lay their eggs
(see the single monarch egg below) in their
yards. The Monarch eggs can be found on the underside of the
leaves. The eggs are laid one at a time. Monarch cocoons can be purchased to get your population
started. The Monarch caterpillar is spectacular (see below). The Monarch Butterflies will often return to their where
they left their cocoons. So you can often get the Monarch Butterfly to come
back to your butterfly garden
year after year. Adults will feed on goldenrod (Soledago), a
number of sages, and a wide variety of plants in the manzanita
family. The migrations of the Monarch Butterfly's are legendary. They
often migrate to Mexico. Some populations over-winter here in
Southern California. There are a number of eucalyptus groves that
can become draped in butterflies during their stay here in Southern
California. The Monarch Butterfly is resting on a rose bush on a cool
morning and can be seen in the third image..
These
images are available in high resolution and are part of our photo
collection.
