Released my final butterfly on Saturday, Oct 21.  He was beautiful and one I found as a 4th instar on my milkweed.  He only spent one day eating and then formed his crysalis.  So glad he emerged healthy and strong!  He picked a lovely sunny day to eclose and joined several other monarchs migrating through the garden!

I tagged 16 butterflies this summer.  I hope they make it to Mexico!

A gorgeous October day, warmer than usual and filled with butterflies!  Here's one I have only seen in a book:

a buckeye!!

My favorite!

More photos

Today it was 76 degrees and sunny--a truly gorgeous day!  We were visited by at least two dozen monarchs on their way to Texas.  They enjoyed the zinnias and butterfly bush plants in the butterfly garden as well as the other flowers my fellow gardeners had in their gardens.  What a sight!

The black swallowtails were so much fun to raise!  However--please note never to buy "organic" parsley from the store to feed the caterpillars.  It appears that organic farms are permitted to use a pesticide that is deadly to all insects (wonder what it does to us?) and the parsley I purchased ended up killing most of my caterpillars.
This one, however, was on one of my homegrown plants:

Great news!  I raised and released 145 monarchs this summer as well as 15 painted ladies and 5 black swallowtails.  Unfortunately, I saw no swallowtails after I released them, but the painted ladies stayed and I've seen them all over the zinnias!