Hi, Sandy, and congrats! When I saw your post my first thought was, gee, they're early! Heehee! My S. hebecarpa died a couple years ago. I have S. bicapsularis coming up, but it has to get really warm here for them to take off with much growth. I love S. hebecarpa in bloom - it's gorgeous! I had 3 Red Admirals on the butterfly feeder late yesterday afternoon, so am confirming they are plentiful this year! Susan

It is neat to watch every time it happens. Congratulations!

I wouldn't take the Dr. Doolittle comment as an insult....it is rather flattering in my opinion. This year, I have had 13 BST cats pupate and so far, they have been emerging after 12-14 days. However, I have a couple of chrysalids from June 2005 that have as yet to emerge. Don't know if they have died after being a chrysalis for over 2 years, but I have heard of them staying in the chrys for up to a year before emerging. I had a male and a female BST to release when I got home this afternoon. She was definitely ready to go, he hung around for a few minutes before leaving the yard. The BST is definitely a beautiful butterfly! Mechelle

hmm tdogmom, I was looking at your blog.. AWESOME! Oh, and yep that one was dead. I injected it with alcohol to preserve it and it is now part of the butterfly collection. The patch of milkweed I collected from has many of the symptoms you showed as problems. I will check a new area. I did have one butterfly that would just flutter to the ground. It had access to fresh flowers and the sugarwater mix. I gave it lots of chances then decided it was doomed. I gave it a special spot in my collection. I made an enclosure using metal rings and a soft white netting. It is 18 inches in diameter and about 5 feet long. It hangs in my office. I placed a dish in the bottom and have a jar in there to place fresh flowers for the new butterflies to land on. SInce the ends overlap, they cannot escape into the house. Once my cats go into chryssalis I hang them in the net enclosure. lots of flying room and easy to see.