Previous Sightings - 2004 to 2008

[cayce]

We were in the mountains of North GA last week (9/25-27) and saw many Monarchs flying south. We didn't do a count, but I would say we saw at least 50 in half an hour. For anyone in the area, we saw the most on Brasstown Bald, but saw them all around the Dahlonga/Helen/Blairsville area.

[staceydaigle]

This is a follow up to my posting dated September 15th.

I have yet to find any Milkweed growing wild on the Panhandle of Florida nor in Lower Alabama). If it is here, I can't find it.

So far I have released 83 Monarchs and have about 15 more instars in the cat nursery, and have only lost 3 or 4.

I was able to find a few more milkweeds at the local nursery, but unfortunately they all were infested with eggs and instars so I just left them there. I knew if I took them home I would have more mouths to feed.

I thought milkweed liked arid conditions. The 13 or so plants I have, have managed to slowly refoliate themselves enough to keep the loss of cats to a minimum. Seems the ones which were piled high with manure and given copious amounts of water are regenerating themselves faster than those watered less frequently. Of course as the leaves grow in the butterflies keep laying eggs so the cycle continues.

Someplace, I read that they will eat cucumbers and yellow squash. Though I was fearful of potential development issues, I did put some in the cage, as I guess I was hoping they would not starve to death, while I still searched for milkweed. Amazingly some of them liked the cucumbers and squash, though I am sure it was out of pure desperation. I even tried making milkweed salad, placing the stems in the vitamixer, but that wasn't a big hit. The did like it when I sliced the larger milkweed stems down the center with razorblade, but that dried out quite quickly.

Anyway, I think we will make it to the end of the season, and I will definitely be ahead of the game on the milkweed next year. I have an acre of property on the other side of town which we were planning on building a house on. It was cleared about a year ago and some stuff has grown back.

When I was over looking for milkweed I noticed lots of flying insects on our lot. My dear husband suggested I get some milkweed seeds to throw down over there. We know we won't be building over there for a few years so it is a prime location for plants to grow, without the threat of someone coming to cut them down, and then be allowed to reseed, let the seed go where it may!!! Anyone who would like to send me some of seeds from their plants, I would certainly appreciate it.

Stacey

[munchiemonarchs]

I am still seeing them daily in North Metro Atlanta. We currently have 26 in chrysalis and one still munching. Will be out of milkweed very soon, but the cat is getting pretty big. I saw about 5 of them at the local Lowes garden center yesterday. All those flowers. That is the place to be if you are a Monarch.

[anj2nd]

My wife and I are vacationing in Panama City Beach. The condo where we are staying is on the gulf and there are many, many Monarchs traveling from west to east along the beach between the condo and the beach. Some are travelling in pairs. They have been doing this all day. I saw the first one this morning and didn't think much about it, but then I realized that it's the season for their migration. This afternoon, I noticed that there were so many flying by. It's an amazing sight really.

I'm a bit surprised that they are traveling from west to east. I would have thought they would be going toward Texas, then Mexico. Does anybody know why they would be traveling toward the east?

Just thought I would pass along what we are seeing here. There are probably around 100 a minute going by that I can see. No telling how many more that I can't see.

[staceydaigle]

My wife and I are vacationing in Panama City Beach. The condo where we are staying is on the gulf and there are many, many Monarchs traveling from west to east

-- snip snip --

Just thought I would pass along what we are seeing here. There are probably around 100 a minute going by that I can see. No telling how many more that I can't see.

How wonderful for you to have the opportunity to visit PCB this time of year. It is definitely my favorite time down at the Emerald Coast beaches.

Not sure why they are traveling west to east but I had read somewhere that some of the do overwinter on the Gulf Coast, though I thought it was further South, toward Fort Meyers.

Whatever the reason it must be a spectacular sight.

Enjoy your vacation,

Stacey

[flgflowers]

Here in Hudson, Fl I have been seeing about 4 - 5 Monarchs a day - they tend to stay for hours in my butterfly garden. However, I have not seen any caterpillars on any of my milkweed. I think this is strange as most
of the main predators - hornets, wasps, etc are mainly gone with the cooler weather we've been having. I have seen their eggs on some leaves but no caterpillars.

[gaylemullins]

It is happening later than last year, but we finally got some eggs and chrysalises in our milkweed garden at Colonial Elementary School in Fort Myers, FL. We had to leave the hanging, green pupae under the watchful eye of our daycare workers while the school emptied out for winter break. I'm really sad that the kids won't get to see them open unless they will still be there as of January 3rd.

There were some Viceroys mixed in with the Monarchs, I think. These caterpillars had three sets of antennae, and their chrysalis was smaller.

[Ann]

There were some Viceroys mixed in with the Monarchs, I think. These caterpillars had three sets of antennae, and their chrysalis was smaller.

The caterpillars you described are the queen larvae, Danaus gilippus. The queen larvae has 3 sets of filaments. These butterflies are a close relative of the monarch. Milkweed is the host plant for both monarch and queen larvae. The link below has a picture of a queen larva.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2002/queen.html

Ann

[gaylemullins]

Hello Ann,

Thank you so much for filling me in on the Queen larvae. This is the second year I have seen them in the milkweed garden. Now I understand the pinkness of the pupa, too. I will teach the difference to my students when we return to school January 3rd.
Merry Christmas!
Gayle

[realgoddess66]

I put in four milkweed plants in my butterfly garden. I saw one female visiting in November. She visited about 3 times and laid eggs. Saw one pupae sucked dry. Got five eggs last visit in December and brought them indoors. Released five butterflies between January 12-15, 2007. Two have returned and have laid so many eggs it is frightening. (almost). I brought some of the eggs in and got 28 caterpillars. Have you ever seen caterpillars FIGHT for food...there was not near enough milkweed. Called every nursery in the area could not find milkweed. (I had already put in 24 additional milkweed plants) I distributed caterpillars to three sites. One person is a master gardener and has a few milkweed, another who has given me milkweed clippings from her garden and the Rockledge Gardens butterfly house in Rockledge, Florida.
I currently have 8 chrysalides and 5 caterpillars indoors. There are a lot of various size cats in the garden. They have started eating the stalks on some of the plants. Milkweed is hard to find and at $4 a pop in the nurseries it adds up pretty quickly and they eat through it so fast!
If anyone is in my area and have milkweed, or want to stop by and take a couple of cats please let me know.

[gaylemullins]

Don't pay for the plants. I have been collecting the seeds as the pods open up and planting them in places where I know they will survive. Now I have so many plants, (Cape Coral/Fort Myers) that I am giving the seeds away to friends who want them.

I am really impressed with your dilemma. Once I ran out of milkweed and the ones that were big enough started to make a "J" hook. They developed into adults.

Where is Rockledge, Florida? I would be interested in seeing the place you mentioned.

[gaylemullins]

I have seen a few adults flitting about lately and I saved a caterpillar by bringing him inside just before the cold snap we just got. He might have survived but I have seen so many disappear that I am now bringing them in to finish their development, then releasing them. It is amazing how quickly they disappear...even the eggs once you have found them, will be gone the next day. Does anyone know what could be happening to them? I thought maybe lizards or some other insect could be getting them.

Sometimes I snip the milkweed stem and put it in water if it has a small cat or an egg. Then I watch them develop as I add more milkweed and move them to the next juicy leaves. When they are ready to go into a "J" it pays to have a butterfly observatory net in case they start to climb the walls or hang in your blinds. (:>

[realgoddess66]

Gayle:
We are on the east coast. Rockledge is exit 195 off I95 or it can be accessed from US1. It is a very nice nursery and they have an enclosed butterfly house.
I "almost" caught my first emergence. One of my pupae emerged and somehow fell from it's casing. I went to check and found it crawling on the paper towel. It came to my finger and sat there doing it's thing for a good 15 minutes before i got it to transfer to one of my jacket sleeves.
I will have to go into more details about what I saw later (if someone reminds me) :)
How many legs do they have? I saw four....gosh they are sooooo beautiful. Three more will emerge today...i can see the colors through the casing.
florence

[realgoddess66]

Well, four came out and I missed every emergence. My five year old grand-daughter showed up with a gaggle of other kids who wanted to touch. I returned them to their parents and missed the last emergence. Oh well, maybe I will catch the other four.
So far though, it looks like I am in even more trouble because the three that are dry enough to spread their wings are females. Somebody HELP me please, I need more milkweed. My monarchs are very prolific in egglaying. 3-4 eggs per leaf but with so many cats eating the leaves the eggs are gonna be gone too.
A panicking monarch mama on Palm Bay, Florida

[Andrea]

Good morning Realgodness66,

I'm 180 miles northwest of you (Tampa Bay area). It's too far for me to drive esp. as I have a 2 1/2 hr/day round trip commute Mon to Fri and hate to drive on the weekends. I know the butterflies have been prolific in my garden this year. I have 6 butterflies emerging today and 16 more emerging in the next 2 days. I'm always checking the plants in the DIYs and haven't seen any milkweeds being sold in them in past 4 weeks. I will do another round this weekend to see if that has changed. Somewhere in the forum is a blurp on raising monarchs out using veggies and the success rate doing so. Check it out. I have enough milkweed for me and some extra. I might be able to mail you some leaves but I never done this before and have no idea what condition the leaves will be in when you get them. Also, I think someone in your area wrote a blurb on raising milkweeds from cuttings. If you have any other ideas that I might help then drop me a line.

Andrea

[gaylemullins]

The butterfly house sounds great. Does it have only Florida species? I have been to the one at University of Florida called the Rainforest. It has butterflies from around the world.

What is so special is to have a monarch emerge during class. Last year, we watched several emerge and while the wings were drying, I carefully passed the butterfly from one child's finger to another. I took pictures of them on their shoulder, sitting on their head, etc. Their faces were glowing with facination. I teach second graders and we dug a milkweed garden outside our classroom. Just before Christmas break, the caterpillars were everywhere. They were crawling on the sidewalk and looking for a place to form a "J" so we brought them all inside. We had more than 26, but what was so disappointing was that the kids had to leave for two weeks before they opened. I let the students who attended the afterschool program watch them open. They were facinated and took lots of pictures. Now I have one single cat that I found in my yard and it made it's chrysalis. It is going to emerge in about a week. We will at least get to see this one come full circle. Hopefully the warm weather will bring them back soon.

[realgoddess66]

Gayle and Andrea:
Thanks for responding. Andrea, I think if the milkweed is wrapped in damp paper towels they would make it. Gayle do you have any seeds and which type of milkweed do you have? I think you can actually send live plants if you wash the dirt off and enclose the roots in that jel stuff wrapped in cellophane with a rubber band keeping it from dripping. Poke holes in the box and mark live plants.
One of my butterflies DID not want to be indoors. I released her because I did not want her to injure herself. She came out early this morning. She flew away. :(
I have three more to release in the morning and four more to emerge. One cat in J position and four more in aquarium.
A monarch mama in Palm Bay, FL

[realgoddess66]

The butterfly house sounds great. Does it have only Florida species? I have been to the one at University of Florida called the Rainforest. It has butterflies from around the world.

Regarding the butterfly house. i saw a few monarchs and black swallowtails. I am told that there are other types they just weren't out and about. They are in the process of building a bigger one which would be more accessible and interactive with the public. I know this does not wholely answer your question but it's a partial answer. :)
florence

[Andrea]

RealGodess66,

Send me your address using the PM button or email at aahtgr@netscape.net. I can post the leaves to you on Monday. Let me know what condition they are in when they arrive.

Andrea.

[gaylemullins]

I have both the yellow and orange blooms in seed. I keep them in a plastic bag. I have also taken the baby plants and put them in small plastic drinking cups at school so the kids can watch them grow and transplant them into the garden.

If you need seeds let me know, and I will send some. They can be mailed quite easily.

[realgoddess66]

An update on my dilemma in Palm Bay FL. Well my releases returned and I had a ton of cats. During the recent cold snap I had about 20-25 cats in the garden. I covered the milkweed and cats at night and they survived. They ate everything and disappeared. I have seen 3 chrysalides, don't know where the others are. My milkweed are all stalks and tiny little leafs that are trying to burst forth.
Looked out this morning and there is a very large monarch laying eggs on the stalks, the little tiny leaves, any where she can get them attached. I have nothing to feed them with, their predecessors ate the pods and all.
What am I gonna do? I think that there is so little milkweed around that they are honing in on this patch. The seeds have not grown yet to help accommodate them.
Anyone with a solution to this dilemma? I don't have the funds to run off to the nurseries right now. Anyone with some giant milkweeds plants on this forum?
florence in se palm bay fl

[gaylemullins]

I wish there could be some way to send the larvae here without damaging them. I have the milkweed plants, but it's sparce, and I don't know if it would survive being transplanted in the winter. Wow. I wish we had your luck with the number of eggs being laid!

[Becky]

Hi, I am in Jacksonville Florida and saw my first returning Monarch today! I had a lot of visitors in my butterfly garden last year and have been waiting for the first to return. She spent the whole day laying eggs on the milkweed plants! Yea!

[gaylemullins]

Gee I wish we would see more down here in South West Florida! You would think we would see them because of the tropical weather, but we are going through a terrible drought which limits the blooms on flowers. We also have the brush fires this time of year.

[Teresa]

My cousin who has a waystation on the east coast has the same problem. she gets so many eggs/cats and not enough milkweed to feed them. The only way we get around that is I send her milkweed from here in Ohio in the fall to feed them. The problem is this time of year when she gets the cats and we don't even have milkweed yet. Some years I mail her the crysallids because it's way too cold up here and they are born down there.

[Becky]

I think it is great that you have mailed milkweed and crysallids to keep the cycle going. You must really love Monarchs. I used to live in central Ohio myself and I know how cold it gets and the limits that puts on your milkweed. A funny thing I noticed is that this past winter(here in Jacksonville, FL) we had a freeze that (despite my best efforts) killed most of the milkweed. As it was starting to sprout new little leaves at its bases I bought some new plants at a local garden shop and I set the new potted plants out in the garden near the old ones. When I had my first Monarch on March 23rd, she laid eggs on all of the old plants that had frozen and were now sprouting new leaves, very tiny leaves. She would go to the new potted milkweed for nectar but wouldn't lay eggs on them!?
I checked the cats today and the milkweed is growing plenty fast enough to feed them.....yea!

[Teresa]

Maybe once they get to about 2nd instar you can move them to the new plants. I'm always careful with storebought milkweed because i'm afraid they might of used miracle grow or something like that.

[gaylemullins]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I was not aware that Miracle Grow would adversely affect the larvae or the adult. Isn't that just to stimulate the roots? I don't use anything on mine, but I certainly did not know about Miracle Grow. I used to get my first plants from Lowes and Home Depot, and they had eggs and larvae already on them.

[Teresa]

Any kind of fertilizer affects them. Thats when you see them ooze green fluid when the cats die. It doesn't affect the butterfly.

[gaylemullins]

So are you saying that the fertilizer gets in the plant's system and the caterpillar gets it from the contents of the leaves, or is it due to coming in contact with the fertilizer in the dirt or on the outside of the leaves?

[Jeanine L. Shaffer]

A Monarch female came through our yard April 3 and 4 and laid about 200 eggs on my newly emerged Butterfly Weed (Tuberosa) plants which are 1/2" to 5" tall. Since we were going to have a deep freeze for 5 days I collected them and put them on some Tropical Butterfly Weed that I had started from seed about the first of Jan. 2007. They are doing fine except I'm getting low on Butterfly Weed and have started to feed them yellow squash. This is a new experience for me and I hope it works .

Jeanine Shaffer Monarch Way Station 301, Tn.

[gaylemullins]

Goodness, I have never heard of Monarchs laying eggs on anything except Milkweed, common in our area which is Southwest Florida. That is very interesting, and I wonder if there are any other folks can discuss this type of plant.

[Teresa]

Butterfly weed is milkweed. The fertilizer is absorbed into the plant so they injest it when they eat the milkweed.

[gaylemullins]

Yes! Thanks for that. I did look up Tuberosa on Google after I read your comments and found there are many different types. All of life is learning, and I am enjoying that. I only knew about the yellow and orange variety. I stay so busy teaching 2nd graders, and now I have stumbled across even more to teach them!

[Teresa]

I would love to get more varieties but I'm afraid they wouldn't do good in my area.

[Andrea]

There have been usually 1 to 3 butterflies in my garden all winter and spring long. I've been collecting cats and growing them out during that time. There have been some occasional slow periods. It got very hectic at the end of the winter season. Nearly ran out of milkweeds due to all the cats that needed feeding.

In addition to the usual nectar flowers, I put out 4 dill plants (they're about 3 feet high) in the garden. It really attracts the pollinator. We sit on the garden bench and marvel at the variety of bees and wasps feeding on the flowers. With the catastrophic colony collapse being in the news it felt good to be doing something for these guys. I noticed the adult monarchs feeding on the dill flowers, too. There is a cat that out smarted me and grew out in the garden...it has it's chrysalis on one of the top branches of a dill.

It was very slow last summer in my butterfly garden and very unlike previous years. I kept checking my milkweeds, which seem to be getting bigger and bigger, and could not find a single egg/cat. Started to get concerned so did a search on the internet and eventually found this site! Finally started getting eggs/cats in the end of summer 2006.

Andrea.

[gaylemullins]

Well, this is the first Spring Monarch we have had in Cape Coral, Florida. I still haven't seen any in Fort Myers where I teach. The one I saw today is in my backyard laying eggs like crazy. Funny, I prayed for a Monarch to come yesterday because school will be out soon. I want my students to watch one emerge from the crysalis. They missed the Monarchs that came out while they were on Winter Break.

Hope these eggs will develop fast! School will end the last week of May.

I really don't like anything that attracts wasps around my garden. Some type of parasitic wasp stings the crysalis and lays an egg inside. It kills the crysalis which never hatches.

Are there any other flowers that I should plant that won't attact wasps? I want to have some flowers to which Monarchs are easily attracted. Any suggestions out there?

[Andrea]

Hey Gayle,

You're about 2 hours south of me. The pentas seem to be the favorite flower in my garden and its always a big hit with the butterflies.

I guess my take on the wasps are they are like weeds and I have got use to living with them in my garden. There are so many wasp varieties that I've started an appreciation of them. Yes, I've seen some of my cats being carted off by them and being devored and it's a sight that makes me cringe. Therefore, I check the milkweeds every night and morning...ie before and coming back from work. I find most of the cats and grow them in containers. I once knocked down a wasp nest from my eaves. I picked it up and started looking at the wasp larvae (Yes, I'm a biologist....I can't help picking up stuff like that) and saw all the different stages from eggs to nearly adult stage. I felt so bad that I got a ladder and put it back in the eaves. What can I say? My fiance was speechless and perplexed as he is not a fan of wasps.

One thing I have noticed with the wasps in my garden is that they really patrol the milkweeds growing in thick patches. They go down every leaf checking everything out really carefully but don't do that as much with milkweeds interspersed with nectar flowers.

One strange thing happened about 3 weeks ago. My fiance was looking out the window into the garden and I was working on my computer. He kept talking about butterflies bullying a monarch. I thought it was the usual patrolling Monarch and Gulf Frittallaria males meeting up in the garden and chasing each other around. So I kept working on the computer and told him that it was normal. Then he started asking why they're were three butterflies hanging on the wings of an emerging Monarch. I just paused at the keyboard then jumped up and ran into the garden to see what was happening. A monarch recently emerged from its cocoon and three Gulf Frittallarias were hanging off it's wings. The monarch couldn't fly as its wings were still soft. They appeared to be trying to drop it to the ground. The three bullies flew off and I moved it to a safer area...ie away from the passionvines.

Hopefully you'll have lots of emerging Monarchs for the kids to see!

Andrea

[Jeanine L. Shaffer]

I posted earlier that I had found about 200 eggs on my just emerging Butterfly Weed plants and brought them all indoors to raise them since a hard freeze had been forcast. The freeze lasted 5 days and 6 nights. It really damaged lots of my flower plants. I covered all my tiny emerging Butterfly Weeds and most of them made it all right--a few got frosted. I clipped them back and they are putting up new shoots.

I ran out of the Tropical Milkweed that I had been growing all winter so decided to try the yellow squash with some of the caterpillars. Some I started after the 3rd instar and others later as I ran out of the milkweed. Before I started with the squash some of the "Cats" started dying. The "cats" with the squash I kept in separate Totes. After a few days one died. The ones on the leaves started dying more each day and I realized I had an infestation of OE. Everyday I was finding dead Cats--one morning I found over 30 dead that were past the 4th instar. At this point most of the Cats that were left were on squash. The first ones that were put on squash were still going but noticed that those on squash were growing much slower than those on the leaves.

I sure am glad I was able to keep what Cats I had by using the squash till I could get some leaves for them.

I called my brother in Dunedin, Fla. to see if his neighbor had any Butterfly Weed that he could send me--he did--and a few days later I got it, but it was quite wilted. I used it anyway. I put some in all the Totes for them and some went right to the leaves and some just stayed on the squash. The next day I coaxed the ones on the squash to the leaves and they took right to it. Now they are all back on leaves and really started growing . I only have about 15 cats left because of the OE. 4 have formed Chrysalis'. During all this I kept all my Totes etc. sterilized and everything very clean. It broke my heart that I lost so many due to the OE. I've been raising the Monarchs since 2000 and never had this happen before.



My Butterfly Weeds are 8-10" tall now and there are lots of eggs on them again which I'm leaving on the plants till they hatch.

Jeanine Shaffer--Monarch Waystation 301

[gaylemullins]

Andrea, Thanks for the info! You are really into this with both feet!

Well, I am beginning to see signs of life back in our drought area. Since we had a couple of minimal rainy spells, it is making things a bit greener, and making me more hopeful that more Monarchs will be back here soon. It only takes one or two to lay a lot of eggs, but the survival of the new hatchlings is a sensitive issue.

I had heard of the yellow squash trick once before. I am amazed that Monarch cats will eat anything other than Milkweed.

I like to catch the seed pods opening and get the seeds into a plastic bag ready to plant into clean potting soil as soon as possible. Sometimes I see the strays popping up in my rock pathway, and I just pull them up by the roots and transplant with lots of water.

It's addictive! I learn more and more every day.

[flgflowers]

You guys are really making me envious. I am not seeing many butterflies in my area (Hudson Fl). I have only had one Monarch go
thru my garden in the past 2 months I am starting to see a few cats on my milkweed but not many. Almost everything in my garden is blooming now, too. All the houses in my development are on about 1 1/3 acres or more but I don't see many flowers or bushes that would attract BF - so maybe there's just not many BF going thru my neighborhood. Every day I go out hoping to see BF but never do
(except Gulf Fritillaries).

Also, has anyone noticed that some of the plants in Home Depot,Lowe's, and nurseries that are tagged as being attractive to BF don't attract
any butterflies at all? I have bought probably about 4 plants like that and the only thing they attract are bumble bees. The butterflies just glide right over them.

I'm thinking next year that I may just go with lots of pentas, butterfly bushes, milkweed, passiflora, lantana, and purple coneflowers since the Monarchs and other BF that visit my garden all like them. Andrea told me about Blazing Star corms at Walmart so I got some of them and they're growing good - am anxious to see their blooms.

Are there any other flowers that you all find Monarchs really like?

[gaylemullins]

You might want to think about red zinnias. I saw those planted at our butterfly garden at Manatee Park in Fort Myers. The butterflies liked those a lot.

[flgflowers]

Thanks Gayle - I'll look for seeds for red zinnias. I have some zinnias now and the BFS like them. However, I do not have much luck with zinnas. They come up and look real nice for about a month and then start drying up and falling over even tho I water them almost every morning. I cut them back some when they come up so they bush but it doesn't seem to help.

The BFs love my red pentas so I have added more to my gdn this year.

It has now been at least two weeks since I have had a Monarch come around. I found two caterpillars fm her visit and they shd be emerging fm their Chrysalis' in a couple days. I have giant SWTs, GF, zebras and painted ladies in my gdn every day. I sure miss the Monarchs. Last year at this time I had at least a couple or more Monarch's in my gdn every day. Are you seeing Monarchs down your way?

[Andrea]

Hey flgflowers,

I took a picture of a monarch feeding on a prairie blazingstar (ones I got from Walmart a few months ago) this morning and put it in my webpage. I've given up trying to post pictures or my webpage address on this forum as every time I tried I've gotten an automatic message that I'm not allowed. I tried to take a photograph of the same monarch feeding on a yellow zinnia but a GF chased it off.

I collected some native florida milkweeds (pineland milkweed) a few weeks ago and planted them. They may not flower till next spring but if you want some seeds from a florida native milkweed next year then let me know. They are very pretty plants! I put some cats on them a few weeks ago and they ate the leaves.

Andrea

[ButterflyLdy]

I haven't spotted any Monarchs yet, but my garden is ready! I have tons of Milkweed growing and getting huge! I am on the lookout for my babies to come back home!
butteflyldy

[flgflowers]

I have only had "1" monarch visit my garden since my posting in May.
This spring I made sure I had plenty of milkweed for the CATS. I have
alot in pots so that I can take them off the MW planted in the garden
before the wasps, etc can get them. It is so discouraging - I really miss seeing them.

Has anybody heard anything about the Monarch population being less this year than
in past years? Is anybody else out there in Fl experiencing the same thing I am?

I have also noticed that there are fewer of the other species of butterflies
visiting my garden this year than in other years.

[Andrea]

I was SO surprised today to see a monarch butterfly in the field while doing an environmental survey in Volusia County, central east coast of Florida . I very rarely see one in an undeveloped tract. Yesterday I noticed a small patch of what appeared to be velvet leaf milkweed (A. tomentosa) on the same tract. I will check it tomorrow to properly ID it. The monarch was floating over patches of Phoebanthus (Phoebanthus grandiflorus).

[missingashley]

I have only had "1" monarch visit my garden since my posting in May.
This spring I made sure I had plenty of milkweed for the CATS. I have
alot in pots so that I can take them off the MW planted in the garden
before the wasps, etc can get them. It is so discouraging - I really miss seeing them.

Has anybody heard anything about the Monarch population being less this year than
in past years? Is anybody else out there in Fl experiencing the same thing I am?

I have also noticed that there are fewer of the other species of butterflies
visiting my garden this year than in other years.

I'm in FL, and I too have been on the lookout for the return of the Monarchs this year. So far only one tiny cat in the early spring. I let her munch on the milkweed in my garden, but within two days she was gone. There have been plenty of other butterflies since May, though. And like you, I am prepared this year with plenty of milkweed. Some plants are 5 ft. tall. Still hoping for a visit. Hope it's not too late.

[missingashley]

What a wonderful surprise! This morning the milkweed is covered with tiny Monarch cats! Good thing I planted all those seeds.

[Andrea]

Missingashley,

That's great news!! It has slowed down in my garden. I have only 6 cats right now. I recent ordered 50 tags and hopefully will have enough butterflies to tag in mid-October.

Are you in north, central, or south FLorida?

Andrea.