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Friday 19 July 2019

Cats to Chrysalises ?

OK, it was time to do the big reveal.
Like any mom I was nervous and still am because you just don't know how this is going to turn out ?
I keep kicking myself for not capturing all the little ones and keeping them inside so they would be totally out of the way of any ... mishap ?
Unveiled !
There are a total of 4 chrysalises
I could only get two decent pictures.
So now the wait is on.
My previous experience,and I actually over wintered one in my fridge all winter and brought the jar out in Spring when it was warm enough.
This is what happened .. after it emerged it went to my son's arm
This is what they look like as an adult, how beautiful are they ?
As they mature inside their chrysalis, it goes to a tan brownish colour .. fingers crossed !
Other events .. the "heat is on" .. reference to an Eddie Murphy movie .. the music is stuck in my head now ... that is an ear worm right ?
The three new "Bobo" hydrangea I planted are blooming their little heads off which is amazing because I didn't expect them to do anything this year.
Yes ... I know .. I planted them too closely .. adjustments will have to be made .. big sigh !
The hydrangea to the left are large "Quick Fire" and "Little Quick Fire".
You might say I am hydrangea obsessed ?
Another surprise is this white tiger lily I totally forgot that I planted last year.
I love that hit of white in the garden .. it truly does shine.
Now how pretty can it get ?

11 comments:

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

Love the lily(-: The caterpillars have moved on to the next step. Those are pretty butterflies. We have them here too although I have not seen any caterpillars at all. We have dill too. I guess I need to go and look closer. We now also have a yellow/black butterfly flying around here too. I haven't got a picture yet but it looks like a tiger swallow tail.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Wonderful that you have some chrysalises. Your tent protected them! Good job. I hope nothing comes to eat the chrysalises. Best of luck. The shot of white in your garden is gorgeous. White does illuminate any place in the garden where it is used.

Casa Mariposa said...

I have caterpillars in my fennel, too. I should have chrysalises soon but I rarely see them. They crawl off into the jungle of my front garden to find a dark spot where no one can find them to do their magic. Your garden looks great!

Margaret said...

That is awesome! I took the Monarch "course" and have grown them but never swallowtails. And those hydrangeas are looking magnificent! All the shrubs I purchased this year are just trudging along - which is par for the course for new plantings, I suppose.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

HI Cindee .. thanks ! .. I so hope they make it .. but with the deck being power washed and repainted the plants had to go down to the garden so it is harder to keep an eye out for them .. but fingers crossed !

Lisa I worry about that too .. especially with the plant being in the garden now .. next time I am gathering all the cats and keeping them in containers to really safe guard them .. this stress is killing me ? LOL Yup .. white is beautiful .. I used to have a lot more, note to self about doing more of it again!


Thanks Tammy ... I have had half of them escape even with the tenting .. that drive is so strong to LEAVE home ! haha... I just hope they are all ok and doing their thing.
The life span of these guys is so short .. it is sort of sad .. so they are precious to me.

Hello Margaret, thank you : ).. just saw all you veggie shots and your gardens are amazing!
I rarely see Monarchs in my garden .. and rarely see the adult swallowtail too which is funny since she leaves me babies ? LOL
This heat wave has been a killer .. I so want Autumn to HURRY the heck up ? haha
No wonder plants are stressed out ... I am too .. LOL

Jason said...

Congrats on the chrysalids! I've never seen the black swallowtails at that stage.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Thanks Jason .. funny enough I never see Monarchs very often at all .. and these ones as adults ? .. stealth mode ! LOL

RobinL said...

I’m curious how your “Little” Quickfire will grow compared to mine. It’s not very little! This year it’s about five foot tall, maybe more. But it’s gorgeous and I love it because it’s loaded with blooms from June to frost.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi Robin .. I have "relocated" Little Quick Fire" way too many times .. the poor thing is just trying to recover from all of that trauma .. I tend to make my shrubs stay the size I want them to be .. but you never know each year how things will turn out .. mother nature does what she wants to do right ?

Helen said...

How exciting, Joy! Now I can see what I have to look forward to with my swallowtail eggs. I give my 'Quickfire' a hard pruning each spring, what I call "almost espaliering", because otherwise my garden would be 100% 'Quickfire'. It seems to be just fine.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

I find that as well Helen .. I really prune HARD and find they all come back better than ever that way .. but I sneak my pruning in November ... which I thought might not be a great idea the first time I did it .. but so far with 3 years running .. it works and saves me some time during the overload of work in the Spring .. yup .. some hydrangea are going to be monsters!LOL