By Wendy and Katie
July 21, 1997
July 21, 1997 Our last Monarch hatched today. In a few days we should also have the new hatchlings from the Painted Lady replacement batch. The new batch of Painted Ladies have been turning into chrysalides again; but we haven't kept track track of them like we did before. Mostly because we are now watching the Monarchs. Our concerns with the Painted Lady is basically, will they hatch okay this time, and without other problems and complications. We have been reviewing all of the things that we have learned as we make our observations; and we have been working in our "The Butterfly Curriculum" workbook. (This was also something that I had ordered from Carolina to go along with our unit.) In a few days we will be releasing all of the butterflies. We are very excited about this. None of us have ever seen this many butterflies in one place at one time before. We talked about the butterfly garden for a little while. Although it looks pretty and I planted a specific butterfly garden kit; we have not had a lot of luck with it. I had planted as soon as the danger of frost had passed, and according to the package directions; but the flowers seemed like they were late to bloom and we haven't really seen butterflies by it at all. This was my first attempt at planting flowers, and although we didn't have a lot of luck with it, I have gained some knowledge with the experience. And of course I do have a pretty patch of flowers in the yard. I am wondering if we have had limited success because we live in a very quiet neighborhood that is surrounded by woods. There are just too many other places for the butterflies to go. I don't think it's our garden that is the problem; I think it's that they don't "need" our garden. I am going to try again next year, and when I do I think I am also going to trya few new things, and do some differently.