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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\nI so look forward to their return here in Western Massachusetts. If the weather is good for their continued metamorphosis and migration, I might expect to see my first Monarch butterfly soaring into the landscape by mid May. I fondly recall the many butterflies I raised and released in the gardens last summer and fall.It is always a privilege and incredibly captivating to see a butterfly successfully lift off onto its very first flight.<\/p>\n Whispering ‘Good Luck!’ I marvel as the new butterfly flies out into the gardens and landscape, knowing they will have a perilous journey ahead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n All the butterflies I release, along with others migrating south from Canada will find plenty of nectar rich blooms in the gardens and fields.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n I would like to go further back into late Spring 2011 and share some of the Monarch butterflies that graced my life.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Last year my first monarch arrives in the gardens in June.I was lucky to eye her laying an egg on a young milkweed plant. This female monarch may have lived her life as a caterpillar and after a stunning metamorphosis takes flight from North Carolina to reach our Western Massachusetts land.<\/p>\n You can scroll down through the next photographs to see what becomes of her egg in about four weeks time.<\/p>\n After a couple of days the egg will reveal life within and soon a tiny caterpillar emerges. Following two weeks of munching, a chrysalis is unveiled and another two weeks pass by, as the butterfly forms within.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Butterflies are so fragile while their wings are drying.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n