Chrysalis Trees

I have a new Chrysalis Tree (We sing "O Christmas Tree" but say Chryslis Tree, haha). I went with a fall theme this year instead of spring blossoms. This was from a week ago - with 20 chrysalides on it.

I also had a chrysalis bush, but it is gone now. Yesterday at church I gave away 12 chrysalides, like I did last year. I had tried to put them 1, 2, or 3 on a stick, and I put several sticks in a pot with rocks, so that I would be able to remove them and give them to anyone that wanted one. I didn't make them pretty with flowers this year though, so it kinda made an ugly display, in my opinion. An ugly chrysalis dead bush.

I also haven't kept track this year of which ones went to j-hook and then to chrysalis first, so they haven't been in order, I just glued them wherever. That pic was from Sept 5. By the time Sunday came around, I had 8 sticks that still had chrysalides on them. So yesterday, I gave away 11 at church, then I gave one to a neighbor after we went to their house for the walkabout. They are from Korea and their backyard was so so gorgeous, like an Asian nature paradise. It was so beautiful, so then I went home and got a butterfly chrysalis cause it just seemed like an appropriate place for a butterfly to be born at. And I saw another neighbor boy, Jack (4th pic), who took our butterflies to St. George last year, and he asked for some, so I gave him two large caterpillars to finish raising. Today I released 2 males and 1 female (I have been trying to keep track of what I release). Here is one that I released today. I decided not to move this one to a stick, since he wasn't on a leaf...

We were in the kitchen when it emerged. Katharine says "butterfly" as a combination of "butterfly" and caterpillar - so like "Bacacaca!" (She's so smart!)

Released one male today, and even with the 12 I gave away yesterday, I added on a few more that went to chrysalis over the weekend and now I have 27 chrysalides! I added them to my chrysalis fall centerpiece ~ isn't that lovely?

I have one more that will be changing soon, so he's our last guy and that will make 28 (unless any of them emerge tomorrow... I haven't kept track so I don't know who is leaving soon). I went to get our last caterpillar some milkweek tonight and found a few babies, so now I have 4 baby caterpillars too. Also yesterday, a huge swallowtail was in the backyard. The kids brought it in - it seemed very lethargic. I tried to feed it a wedge of a clementine but it didn't seem interested. Natalie holding a monarch below - 

The kids were excited about seeing a different kind of butterfly up close! The baby wasn't so sure...

I went to take it to my neighbor Terry, for her butterfly hospital, but she wasn't home. 

Daniel took matters into his own hands and wouldn't give up! He squeezed a whole clementine and put the juice in a cup and continued to try and feed it. Then Owen came in and told me that it flew away. They had brought it back to life! Such is the faith of a child.