butterflies!

All of a sudden, we have a ton of butterflies in the garden. Here is a nice pictorial overview of some of the species in our area: http://www.richard-seaman.com/Arthropods/Usa/Butterflies/Illinois/index.html. Of these, here are the ones I think I've seen in recent days: monarch, red admiral, painted lady, and satyr anglewing. I think it was a red admiral that landed on my leg today and stayed there a while -- they seem to like the color blue. Every year, I hope a monarch will come and lay its eggs on my milkweed plant (which, as you may know, is the only food its caterpillars can eat -- they eat the leaves and are then protected against predators for life, because milkweed gives other animals stomachaches). Maybe this is the year -- I have about a half dozen milkweed plants marching across in a diagonal line. I don't think I planted even one, ever -- they just found me. I do have a lot of flowers that I planted specifically because they attract butterflies. Later in the season, we should see swallowtails, too. Their caterpillars like dill, parsley, and carrots (the greens, that is). Dill and parsley grow like crazy out there. I always pull most of mine, because otherwise, they'll take over -- but I always leave a little bit just in case a swallowtail is looking for a good place to lay eggs. I would love to see a chrysalis in my plot this year!