Monarch Chrysalis

The milkweed garden that was planted has been decimated by the Monarch caterpillars as expected. But, new leaves are just starting to emerge from the leftover branches. Meanwhile, I found a dozen or so Monarch chrysalis' not on the milkweed, but outside the periphery of the main plant. The caterpillars tend to migrate away and up the house and other structures. The chrysalis' that I could see in plain sight were on the house stucco, under the eaves, under the outdoor furniture and near a water fountain. I almost stepped on a newly emerged butterfly after watching it unfold its wings one afternoon; it had flopped onto the brick pavers and I had forgotten that it was there.

The chrysalis (one of three) pictured below was on the garden hose storage roller where it gets rotated like a chair in a Ferris wheel ride when watering is needed in the garden. It looks just about ready to release a butterfly.

Sunflower head

The sunflower head has been open for a few weeks now. This plant is standing at about 8 feet tall. There are two other sunflowers grown from the same seed stock, but I'm not sure if I planted them too close to the larger plant as they are 1/3rd the size. Maybe there's some competition for nutrients going on underground? Or, they're just odd hybrids?

The sunflower is actually composed of many small flowers called "florets" where the seeds will eventually mature. The future seeds are white in this close-up picture. Read more about Sunflowers!