Re: Monarch Supporter

**sanderson** 10/16/2017, 2:35 am

Question - how do you know it is a male?

countrynaturals 10/16/2017, 1:21 pm

sanderson wrote:Question - how do you know it is a male?

2 little dots in the lower center of the wings. Females don't have them. You can barely see them in the first pic. I wish all butterflies were this easy to identify. I can't tell the sex on any others.

**sanderson** 10/16/2017, 2:50 pm

Ah, ha!

**Scorpio Rising** 10/16/2017, 7:55 pm

I love this thread!!!!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/3/2018, 7:12 pm

Have started to see my first Monarchs! They are on all the flowers, including the milkweed (hopefully girls laying eggs!)

countrynaturals 7/3/2018, 7:57 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:Have started to see my first Monarchs! They are on all the flowers, including the milkweed (hopefully girls laying eggs!)

No monarchs here this year. Sad

**trolleydriver** 7/3/2018, 8:25 pm

countrynaturals wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Have started to see my first Monarchs! They are on all the flowers, including the milkweed (hopefully girls laying eggs!)
No monarchs here this year.

I have not seen any monarchs in my yard this year. I have milkweed flowering but no monarchs (yet).

**Scorpio Rising** 7/3/2018, 8:49 pm

trolleydriver wrote:
countrynaturals wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Have started to see my first Monarchs! They are on all the flowers, including the milkweed (hopefully girls laying eggs!)
No monarchs here this year.
I have not seen any monarchs in my yard this year. I have milkweed flowering but no monarchs (yet).

Suz, Not sure, but the weather seems to be messing with their migrations. This is late for me to see my first, but my milkweed is also late...

TD, you will see them, they are working their way up to you! And lots of pollinators love the milkweed! My swamp variety isn’t doing so well, but the common one is self-seeding, so there you have it!

countrynaturals 7/4/2018, 10:07 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Suz, Not sure, but the weather seems to be messing with their migrations. This is late for me to see my first, but my milkweed is also late...

2 years ago, we had an outbreak of that awful virus they get. OE? Last year, I only saw a couple, and no babies. This year, my milkweed is in terrible shape, so my establishment has lost it's 5 star rating. Maybe next year . . . Sad

**Scorpio Rising** 7/4/2018, 10:13 am

countrynaturals wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:Suz, Not sure, but the weather seems to be messing with their migrations. This is late for me to see my first, but my milkweed is also late...

2 years ago, we had an outbreak of that awful virus they get. OE? Last year, I only saw a couple, and no babies. This year, my milkweed is in terrible shape, so my establishment has lost it's 5 star rating. Maybe next year . . .

I remember that! Terrible! Like I said, starting to see them more, saw 2 yesterday on different plants; one on the coneflowers out front and one on the loosestrife.

countrynaturals 7/4/2018, 11:42 am

I'm glad the rest of you are seeing Monarchs. I love you

For me, it's Gulf Fritillaries and Pipevine Swallowtails. We have lots of both. Very Happy

**Scorpio Rising** 7/29/2018, 9:04 pm

OK, I was out there looking for monarch cats, and noticed that my dill was decimated. There they were, 2 little swallowtail cats!!!! I do not have enough dill to take them all the way to metamorphosis. Need to get me some! I do have Italian flat Leaf parsley....and cilantro.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/97fb7d10.jpg

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/b3925a10.jpg

So cute...so, do they like other fare? My dill is thin. I do have Italian flat Leaf parsley. They can have it.

Roseinarosecity 7/30/2018, 4:06 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:
So cute...so, do they like other fare? My dill is thin. I do have Italian flat Leaf parsley. They can have it.

My sister uses common Rue for her Swallowtails but we are in California, so I'm not sure if it's the same Swallowtail.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/30/2018, 6:37 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:
So cute...so, do they like other fare? My dill is thin. I do have Italian flat Leaf parsley. They can have it.

My sister uses common Rue for her Swallowtails but we are in California, so I'm not sure if it's the same Swallowtail.

My SIL was shopping at the bargain table at the nursery today, and she texts me a picture of lovage with 3 largish swallowtail cats on them! She bought ‘em, free cats!!! I just planted them next to the dill and my 2 baby cats. So hopefully they get the memo that they can eat that, too!

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/31/2018, 11:43 am

It looks like several different kinds of swallowtail cats eat rue, at least one on each coast.

I had a monarch on my bull thistle yesterday. I allow selected bull thistle volunteers to grow for the pollinators. If they didn't like the flowers so much, it would be out, because OUCH. I try to keep it dead-headed as it's not native and I want to reduce the number of prickly babies I'll need to pull next spring. I use a granny-grabber in one hand to grab the thistle-head, and long clipping shears in the other hand to snip the stem.

I haven't seen any monarch cats, but the butterflyweed is surrounded by other weeds so I probably wouldn't see them, and I don't feel like getting my feet wet to check the swamp milkweed.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/31/2018, 5:50 pm

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:It looks like several different kinds of swallowtail cats eat rue, at least one on each coast.

I had a monarch on my bull thistle yesterday. I allow selected bull thistle volunteers to grow for the pollinators. If they didn't like the flowers so much, it would be out, because OUCH. I try to keep it dead-headed as it's not native and I want to reduce the number of prickly babies I'll need to pull next spring. I use a granny-grabber in one hand to grab the thistle-head, and long clipping shears in the other hand to snip the stem.

I haven't seen any monarch cats, but the butterflyweed is surrounded by other weeds so I probably wouldn't see them, and I don't feel like getting my feet wet to check the swamp milkweed.

Yes, the two different cats look a bit diffferent, but they are at different instars. Not sure if that is correct but you get me. My babies are 3/4”, and the ones on the lovage (is that rue?) are 1 to 1 1/2 inches! And plump!

**Scorpio Rising** 9/8/2018, 5:17 pm

So, even though I can’t find the cats, they are there! Several crysalises on my house, as well as a Swallowtail cat trying to stay dry and grab a snack on the lovage!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/2fe65a10.jpg

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/bf26e110.jpg

Love my babies! cheers

**sanderson** 9/30/2018, 3:25 am

There was a 30 minute program on the man, and his wife, who discovered the northward and southward journey of the monarch butterfly. Texas to Canada, and back to Mexico to over-winter in giant clusters. They used food-grade labels on Canada butterfly wings and the public helped by reporting sightings of his labeled butterflies. I wish I had written down the name of the program and the man (and his wife).

OhioGardener 9/30/2018, 8:13 am

sanderson wrote:There was a 30 minute program on the man, and his wife, who discovered the northward and southward journey of the monarch butterfly. Texas to Canada, and back to Mexico to over-winter in giant clusters. They used food-grade labels on Canada butterfly wings and the public helped by reporting sightings of his labeled butterflies. I wish I had written down the name of the program and the man (and his wife).

This one, Sanderson? The Discovery Story

**sanderson** 9/30/2018, 5:07 pm

Yes! It was made into a short video. I can't imagine how he felt when he went to Mexico and saw all of the butterflies hanging from the trees. Wonderment.

OhioGardener 9/30/2018, 5:23 pm

Yes, one winter we visited the Monarch Butterfly Grove at Pismo Beach north of Los Angeles, and it was an amazing sight to see thousands and thousands of Monarchs hanging on the trees.

**Scorpio Rising** 9/30/2018, 6:56 pm

I have one chrysalis left on my house, it is getting late for these guys to be hanging around!

Filled my hummingbird feeder, they too are migrating!

**sanderson** 10/2/2018, 2:44 pm

OhioGardener wrote:Yes, one winter we visited the Monarch Butterfly Grove at Pismo Beach north of Los Angeles, and it was an amazing sight to see thousands and thousands of Monarchs hanging on the trees.

We go to Pismo to see the sun in the winter and escape the heat in the summer. Only, once have we timed it to see them landing. Amazing sight.

**Scorpio Rising** 10/4/2018, 5:54 pm

My last chrysalis fledged today while I was at work! Fly south, little migrator! Go high above the roads! I love you

countrynaturals 3/9/2019, 7:21 pm

Hey, Scorpio! Ya doin' any pollinator gardening this year? Monarch Supporter - Page 8 2636062189

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