Wow! Those are easier to see than on False Nettle. Congrats on the find. Love that your daughter is the "egg finder".

Sandy

Coongrats, congrats! And thanks for posting the picture of the pellitory - I've never seen it, not knowingly, at least.

Red admirals are everywhere this year!

Sherry

Thanks! A couple hatched last night--there were a couple dark eggs, so I'm not surprised to see that there are a couple of tiny cats. Posting a pic so that others can see what they look like if they don't know. They are tiny and their bodies seem translucent; thank goodness for their little black heads!

One of them got to started right away on folding a couple of small leaves down and making its nest.

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Thanks so much for these photos. We have lots of Red Admirals in our yard now, which is very unusual. I will have to search for eggs or cats. now that I know what they look like. I like to watch their development but I've never 'raised' any butterflies. I am always afraid of harming them somehow so I let nature take its course.

BG - could you snap a shot of the Pellitory growing naturally in your garden. Just curious to see what it looks like in that scenario.

I love it, too, that your little girl is the "finder of the eggs"...... Finding RA eggs is a big job for me - I can never see them on False Nettle. Let us see your progress as they move thru various instars and "nest" building stages. I find the RAs so fascinating. They are one of my absolute favorite caterpillars!

It's taking me time to get used to you being in Illinois and not NH! I keep thinking "BG in New Hampshire" has RA eggs, or wondering why you have butterflies so early, and then it clicks you're no long IN New Hampshire.

Congrats and keep up the good work!

Susan

WOW!!! That really IS exciting stuff! Congrats to you, and thanks so much for sharing.~Angie

Congrats! So glad so many are seeing those! Lots of them here. Pennsylvania Pellitory and Stinging Nettle are what they're using here. My poor nettle...had to stop using it for my tea until it recovers later. Nests all over it!

That is great that you are getting some butterfly activity at your new home! Hope you and the kids have fun raising the butterflies.

I have been seeing Red Admirals flitting around the yard here too. What is up with Red Admirals everywhere?

Susan, I am just now getting used to being back in the midwest; I kept thinking I was in NH thoughout the winter. :) I'd get mixed up with the winter and the news; it didn't help that I was streaming a radio station from back out east either.

Linda, Nettle is supposed to be such a great herb, nutritious and great anti-inflammatory. How do you make your tea? Do you use fresh leaves or do you dry them first?

It is crazy about the number of RAs around--I saw them all around the highway yesterday. I'm not complaining though.

Thank you all for your comments re: pics and finding butterflies here. I really thought I was going to have to fixate on something else.

Here are a couple pics of the pellitory outside. They seem to be small seedlings, but I don't know how much bigger the plants get. They are also a little hard to see with all of the maple seeds around them too. Those seeds are almost a kind of mulch!

The cats are already getting bigger, but I promise I won't post day by day pics of them! :)

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Thanks, BG - I think I now have a good visual I can retain if I ever come across any now. I ask because my daughter has had several RAs fluttering around her house across the city from me by about 6 miles, and I wondered if she might have some in her location.

On the nettle tea, I wonder if False Nettle is good for tea also. It is a different genus (Boehmeria) than the Stinging Nettle (Urtica), albeit they are both in the same family. I did some Internet research some time back and don't believe I found anything declaring that False Nettle had the same properties as Stinging Nettle. I do know that folks who grow nettle for its health benefits, always seem to stick with the Stinging Nettle.

Susan