The Monarch butterfly season here in New Zealand is traditionally from October to May. The kids and i, planted swan plants, (the monarchs favourite food source) and sat back and watched the action begin. The photos you see are of our very first butterfly hatching out of its coccon. Strangely, we had soooo many caterpillars, but we got less than five actual butterflies, and our cat got two. This year, i plan to put netting around the plants to limit butterflies laying eggs and to stop predators laying in wait for naive butterflies! This is one of my very favourite things to do with the kids. Ive always had at least one swan plant around. Last year i planted seven. And i even planted a 'butterfly garden' around the swannies to attract them.