Yesterday morning we had three large Monarch caterpillars, but by the afternoon there was only one visible. I looked all over but didn't see the other two; we're hoping the birds didn't pick them off. They were each about two inches long and as big as my little finger, so we're hoping they crawled up into the boxwood hedge somewhere to form their chrysalises.
The remaining caterpillar is busy munching away at the asclepia leaves. I was surprised at how active they are--they just keep eating or moving into position to eat more leaves. Several of the stems are entirely bare of leaves now, but there were enough leaves to make it identifiable as milkweed to another Monarch butterfly today. I tried to get a picture of the Monarch, but it kept flitting from plant to plant, then back to the asclepia, then over the hedge, then to the tomatoes, then back to the asclepia.
So maybe there will be more caterpillars in the future.
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