Monarch Butterfly on Flower

I don’t do color often, but I thought this one deserved it. Back in April at Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival, I spent a lot of time in Tinker Bell’s Butterfly House. It was beautiful to be surrounded by such beautiful, colorful flowers, and then have these gorgeous butterflies floating everyone around you.

Since then, I started growing milkweed at home. I’ve been lucky, and my plants are covered in Monarch caterpillars and Milkweed bugs. I could spend hours watching them doing their thing.

However, last night, I saw carnage that I really wish I could unsee; a wasp attacked one of the caterpillars, skinned it, and ate its head. If my neighbors didn’t already think I was crazy for hanging out looking at my plants all the time, I’m sure that seeing me screaming You F@$@#$ Jerk! and throwing mulch at the plant didn’t help my case.  Wasps are assholes.

So now, when I see a beautiful Monarch butterfly, I also think about what a badass it is for surviving wasp attacks.

Also, do something awesome and plant milkweed in your garden. It helps the declining Monarch populations, is entertaining, and gives you some good karma.

For more photographs, see my Butterflies, Dragonflies, & Bugs album on Flickr.