The Black swallow tailed butterfly.

Chrysalis to Butterfly

Christie’s Blog
August 2024

As I write this, there is a butterfly outside my window who just broke from his chrysalis and is filling his wings with fluid to soon fly off.

I would never have know this was happening without my garden friend Nick here to show me a few days ago. We were talking beside my dill plant which is in full bloom and stands 5’ tall. He spotted a chrysalis and then an open butterfly. We watched as it filled its wings and flew away..witnessing a miracle.

This week I have seen 6 chrysalis and 4 butterfly break out. I have seen only 2 actually fly off. I have read its takes 7-10 days for larva to become chrysalis and 7-10 days for chrysalis to become butterfly.

Here is what I have seen.

Eggs formed somewhere on dill plant and then the caterpillar is born.

Caterpillar

The caterpillar munches on the dill then forms into a chrysalis.

Chrysalis

In the chrysalis the entire molecular make up of the caterpillar changes and turns to fluid. It reforms itself so it has legs, wings, antennae and a catepillar-like body. In the photo below you can see the darker color to the right of chrysalis. The dark wings forming are showing to the right.

The butterfly squeezes out of the chrysalis and opens up. It hangs upside down so its wings will fill with fluid. It body gets smaller and the wings bigger.

Here is one…

and another…..

One ‘opening’ I saw took about an hour and a half from being in the chrysalis through the opening and flying away.

I’m going to check my other pollinator flowers today. I will check my one remaining chrysalis that’s still on the dill plant hourly.

A miracle is sometimes hard to see. I don’t want to miss this one any more.

For you all, I hope you can see how attainable this is for you. Just buy a dill plant, agastache or other pollinator from a nursery (about $10), and place it somewhere you pass often. Start checking stems for the chrysalis in the summer.

It’s the successful science project you never got to have….. good luck!

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.