With Mexico in mind...(how large is a butterfly mind?)

weight is not a problem...this 5th instar caterpillar is eating its way to wings and eventually Mexico.

Quietly, almost in secret, this one grows and develops on Butterfly Weed in a secluded spot in our prairie garden.

The development of a Monarch from a single beautiful white egg, to caterpillar in 5 stages to a butterfly able to fly over a thousand miles to a point in the world it has never been before repeats itself every August.

The wonder of this process never leaves.