Monarch butterfly Study Part Three

 Stay near me--do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!








We are so happy the first group of  butterflies have hatched !

I've watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow blue flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

Butterflies,butterflies everywhere!!

(poem extracts courtesy of To A Butterfly by William Wordsworth)

Monarch butterfly Study Part Two

Monarch caterpillars

Our good friend "T" presented us with some monarch butterflies and chrysalises.They grow/live on this plant which is apparently a noxious weed here.


In New Zealand I remember growing swan plant and monarchs loving this much to gardener's annoyance!

We've never watched them hatch out before and are very excited to have our first science "experiment" presented to us...and we haven't even officially started school yet! The last photo is our summer nature table.

Holly hock house and surroundings

We didn't manage a sunflower house this year, still hollyhock house rolls off the tongue rather nicely and these pictures show the variety of colours we used to "paint" the house!

Finally some salvia because in blue they're one of my favorite flowers for the potager!