Tampa Flordia

[MilkeweedEater]

1 monarch butterflie and 1 caterpillar

[flgflowers]

I have have seen 1 Monarch BFin my garden every day for past month.
No CATS. I have never seen a Month BF in my garden this early in years past.

[Mona Miller]

Do you grow milkweed for them? I'm assuming that there are nectar sources flowering during the winter in your yard.

[flgflowers]

Hi, yes I do have milkweed. Right now I have about 25 healthy plants sitting in my garden in pots. I always keep some in pots and also dig up some in my garden when we are going to have a freeze and I put them in my shed.

I usually don't see Monarchs until April or May. But the temperatures have been so warm this year that
I have been seeing a few swallowtails and fritillaries for the past month.

How long have you been having Monarchs in your area?

[Mona Miller]

In Herndon,VA, we don't see them until the end of April and then continue seeing them until October.

Michael in Tampa has had them all winter. I wonder what is happening in your area. Is it colder? More predators?

[MilkeweedEater]

no tampa any more in winstom salem n.c difrent havent seen one yet but i have othger teachers who used to live here in tampa who says they be here by this month some im geting rdy for them and dont fell like waticgh for net i want it today im a littel pushy on object i want to use very bad checking local places like ace might have or home depot.

[Mona Miller]

No good nets at home depot or ace. Order one from NASCO:

http://www.enasco.com/product/SB43416M
This is the net that I purchased. It makes a great walking stick, too.
http://www.enasco.com/product/SB46624M
eNasco has these cages.

I found two Viceroy caterpillars on willow today. No Monarchs here so far.

You can look at the sightings and maps on Journey North.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Gallery.html

[klhandyman]

I live in Homestead, and we haven't seen any Monarchs yet. They are usually here by now, and the milkweed is blooming away for them.

[flgflowers]

I live in Hudson (Central Fl) and I have only seen two Monarchs in the past 3 weeks. This is
so different from past years and we are almost into July. I just can't believe there are so few. I have plenty of milkweed blooming, lots of nectar plants -but no monarchs. I have other bf and their caterpillars.