Monarch Butterflies

**timwardell** 3/19/2010, 9:32 am

Here's an interesting article from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/19/2051354/monarch-butterflies-making-trek.html

"Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades as they begin to return to Texas on their springtime flight back to the United States and Canada. .... As a result, Monarch Watch is starting a public awareness campaign to encourage gardeners, farmers and transportation officials to plant milkweed. The plant is a lifeline for monarchs as they travel."

**mckr3441** 3/19/2010, 11:21 am

Tim, this is a great post. You get four stars Monarch Butterflies Star3

. I'm going to put a copy of this into the General Forum because I think many people would be interested.

Many years ago, before the Monarchs' wintering grounds were located, I took part with a team of people who were tagging these little wisps of things. It was as a result of that tagging project out of the University of Toronto that the grounds were found. Professor Urquhart was the lead researcher. It was a very exciting venture!

**timwardell** 3/20/2010, 10:45 am

Thanks. I posted it in the South Plains forum because that is the migration path. Thought others in my area might want to plant some milkweed or butterfly weed to help them out. I had lots of butterflies in my butterfly garden last year but only saw one monarch. I'm trying to get butterfly weed to grow from seed but have yet to see any sprouting. <fingers crossed>

Retired Member 1 3/27/2010, 2:29 pm

I saw my first lonely monarch yesterday. We are on the flight path, so by now should have been seeing thousands. Wonder where I can get some milkweed plants?

vanter0109 7/6/2010, 6:26 pm

I almost picked up some butterfly weed yesterday for my garden, but they had a lot of catepillars on them eating the leaves. Then I wasn't sure that they wouldn't eat the other leaves in my garden.

I would love to get some, does anyone know if they will eat my vegi plants?

Megan 7/6/2010, 6:32 pm

Look what I found!

http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm

nancy 7/6/2010, 6:33 pm

Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed (there are many different kinds of milkweed). You should get some! The monarchs need all the help they can get!! Monarch Butterflies Icon_flower

alouwomack 7/6/2010, 10:13 pm

I saw two different monarch caterpillars last week on my dillweed plants. Do they ONLY eat milkweed? One of the little guys looked like he had been going to town on the dill . . . maybe I guilted him by association! Either way, I left them on the plants to do whatever they pleased!

-Amber

nancy 7/7/2010, 9:52 am

Yes, monarch cats only eat milkweed. However, swallowtail cats eat dill, fennel, carrots, etc. So maybe you have swallowtails! They are lovely, too.

LaFee 7/7/2010, 10:06 am

Sadly, Europe doesn't even *have* monarchs.

GloriaG 7/7/2010, 10:12 am

I had swallowtails on my dill and they completely devastated it. Is there any way to have your dill and let the butterflies have some too? When I planted it, I didn't realize it was a lure for the swallowtails.

nancy 7/7/2010, 1:09 pm

Megan - I forgot to tell you that I ordered 20 butterfly weed plants from Live Monarch in early June. They are still on back order, but should ship soon.

And I have plenty swamp weed "ice ballet" seeds available (see my avatar for a picture). If anyone wants some, send me a pm and I will get them sent out. This plant does not bloom it's first year from seed, but it's worth the wait!

alouwomack 7/7/2010, 2:32 pm

I bet it was swallowtail I saw! The cats look similar to me . . . but I'm not a butterfly expert! I left the two alone and they only chewed a little Smile

. . . maybe its because I have so much dill they got their bellies full?

Retired Member 1 7/7/2010, 2:54 pm

GloriaG wrote:I had swallowtails on my dill and they completely devastated it. Is there any way to have your dill and let the butterflies have some too? When I planted it, I didn't realize it was a lure for the swallowtails.

I planted dill and parsley in two different places--in the ornamental garden and in the SFG. When a swallowtail gets on "MY" dill or parsley I break off that leaf/stem and move them. I've been able to get a small harvest that way. Some years I don't have them at all and end up with a huge amount of parsley and dill. This year certainly is the year of the butterfly around here and I'm glad of it.

I have sent my request with a donation for milkweed seeds. I used to live on the migration path, and the couple of days the monarchs came through were as magical as anything can get.

Retired Member 1 7/7/2010, 2:56 pm

alouwomack wrote:I saw two different monarch caterpillars last week on my dillweed plants.... Either way, I left them on the plants to do whatever they pleased!

-Amber

Here's a pic of the swallowtails on the parsley this morning. They look rather similar to monarchs:

Monarch Butterflies Caterp11

GloriaG 7/7/2010, 4:57 pm

Hi belfrybat,

That's a great idea! I'll give it a try.
Thanks
Gloria

nancy 7/7/2010, 8:27 pm

belfry - they are SO cool!! Monarch Butterflies Icon_cool

I miss my babies!! Monarch Butterflies Icon_sad

jjlonsdale 4/17/2013, 2:46 pm

Megan wrote:Look what I found!

http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm

Bump!

This website is still going strong, and I just ordered some seeds -- minimum online donation $3.

**sanderson** 3/6/2016, 9:55 pm

From a friend
http://www.littlethings.com/butterfly-timelapse-metamorphosis-vcom/?utm_source=LTcom&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=wild

**Scorpio Rising** 3/6/2016, 10:15 pm

Love my Monarchs! cheers

CitizenKate 3/7/2016, 12:22 am

That is amazing! I've been wondering where I can plant some milkweed around the yard this year. I was out at the airport last summer, waiting to pick someone up, and saw a monarch flutter by. Then a couple more. Then several more after that. Then I looked higher up and the sky was full of monarch butterflies as far as I could see. There must have been thousands of them.

countrynaturals 4/12/2016, 7:46 pm

alouwomack wrote:I saw two different monarch caterpillars last week on my dillweed plants. Do they ONLY eat milkweed? One of the little guys looked like he had been going to town on the dill . . . maybe I guilted him by association! Either way, I left them on the plants to do whatever they pleased!

-Amber

They won't eat anything else in your garden, but they can get confused and climb off their milkweed plants. I've had to rescue many of them from my pipevine (host plant for pipevine swallowtails.)

**Scorpio Rising** 4/12/2016, 8:13 pm

Yes, they are an obligate milkweed feeder! Plant milkweed! I have seeds if anyone is interested, free. Check these out

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/search?search_keywords=Monarch&typerecherche=interne&show_results=topics

Native plants are where it's at for ecosystem survival. flower

countrynaturals 6/28/2016, 5:57 pm

We had our first female in the milkweed today. These pics are small because they were taken from about 10' away.
Monarch Butterflies 2016-f10

(Did you ever try to post something with 3 kittens in your lap?) affraid

**Kelejan** 6/28/2016, 7:11 pm

Lovely, CN. The miklweed seedlings I purchased a little while ago seem to be doing well and ready to up pot. I have about ten seedlings.

Any idea how long before before they flower; certainly not this year.

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