Monarch laying eggs in the garden

[Bunny Jo]

Just spotted a female laying eggs on the milkweed plants in my garden. She was here yesterday and saw her (or another female) today laying more eggs. The garden is prolific right now with milkweed plants so is a veritable paradise for them.

[TreeFarm]

Gosh Bunny Jo; I am impressed. My garden is just now showing signs of life after the hard freezes we experienced this winter. Must be it much colder in N central FL then on the the coast. My tropical mild weed was killed to the ground, but is sprouting from root; the new growth being about 1/2 inch tall. My Mexican Sunflowers and other feed plants are just now germinating so I have a while before I can sustain a population of butterflies. I also have a large veggie garden. If you would like to share pictures of flowers, butterflies, etc., send me an off-line email to ltgill@svic.net. ... Lynn T Gill

[Patti]

This morning, here in Ft Lauderdale, while filling up the birdbath in my butterfly garden, I noticed a big Monarch climbing up from the bottom of my Lantana. She stayed there for quite a while with both wings pressed together. Then she started opening her wings back and forth. I ran upstairs to get my camera, but, when I returned, she was gone. As I searched around my garden for her, I spotted another one, smaller, doing the same thing. About that time I noticed one in the air and another drying out on a rock. I photographed each of these. In all I saw only five, two in flight and three "coming out". They all headed north from my garden crossing over a canal in a heavy wind of 20 to 30 miles an hour!

About two weeks ago I had moved about 12 caterpillars to five different milkweed plants with blossoms and leaves. (The cluster of milkweed where I found them was completely eaten down to the stem and some of the caterpillars were still quite small.) The next day ALL the milkweed was down to the stem and the caterpillars were gone. I searched everyday for a chrysalis but never found one. Now I know THEY WERE THERE! They picked a bad day to hit the road. I wish them the best.

[Mona Miller]

In the fall they travel on good north east winds. I wonder what winds carry them north.

[Bunny Jo]

Saw another female laying eggs on the milkweed today. We have quite a few cats that hatched about 10 days ago and are enjoying the abundance of milkweed in the garden. We've been having some needed rain here which has greatly helped the plants.