Monarch Butterflies

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Since my wife became a master gardener she has been following and trying to help the population of monarch butterflies in our area. Monarch populations have declined dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years. One thing we have seen in our area is the destruction of milkweed. Every summer the county highway crews come through at just the wrong time to mow and destroy all the milkweed growing on the roadsides. There are areas in the ditches that have milkweed growth but just after the monarchs lay their eggs, the mowing crews come along and mow it all under, destroying countless caterpillars.
We have a small area in our yard where we have planted milkweed and it has been a delight to watch the number of butterflies and other insects that make good use of the milkweed. We followed about 8 caterpillars develop into butterflies from this small patch. Interestingly there was a new visitor this morning called a hummingbird moth. I thought it was a hummingbird at first, but it’s actually a moth. Milkweed flowers have a wonderful smell to them and attract a lot of insects. The last photo has the hummingbird moth hovering at the flowers, enlarge to see it.
If you have taken the time to read this, I would encourage you to plant a small patch of milkweed where it won’t be destroyed or have pesticides applied to it. If you don’t want the milkweed to spread, just gather the pods of seeds at the end of the season before they blow away and put them in the trash.

[Waukonda]

Great post, Mark!

[Lars0729]

I second that....great post!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Thank you Ike and Lars. Stewardship is something I’ve taken seriously for my entire adult life. We are stewards of all that God has given us and being a good steward of something small like a milkweed patch is so simple and has a big impact, hope others will follow after.

[Mumbleypeg]

Great to see your helping the monarchs Mark. We have at least three species of milkweed growing in pastures here on the ranch. The monarchs seem to prefer the variety that has orange tinted flowers over the one that has white flowers. They also like the taller one called antelope horn. Maybe your wife will know which is which? At any rate we get a lot of butterflies including monarchs.

I posted these pictures taken here a few weeks ago, in another thread.

Ken

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Nice Ken, great photos. Glad to see someone else is helping these butterflies. Thank you.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

My wife has provided some links here to milkweed cultivation. Fall is the best time. Milkweed requires cold stratification, which is explained in the links. Here you go: https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/wint ... checklist/, https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/wint ... ontainers/, https://monarchwatch.org/, https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/fall ... -10-steps/.
Hope you find this useful. We just discovered another batch of caterpillars, 13 this time around on the same plants.
It’s fun watching these grow.

[Waukonda]

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[doglegg]

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Beautiful pic Ike.

[LKSKNIVES]

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Another stellar picture Ike
Great post

[Sharpnshinyknives]

That is nice Ike.
Can’t believe the number of caterpillars we have right now. Last count was 23. We have 6 either in chrysalis form or in the process with the classic J shape while hanging. All have gone to our siding by the milkweed bed to become a chrysalis. Helps the population a little.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Some more photos of the Monarchy we have going on. This week we had a total of 23 chrysalis on the walls. Today about 1 pm I went out and found 5 had just come out of their chrysalis and were either hanging and pumping up their wings or still trying to figure out what to do next. I missed the one in the 3 photo. I turned away to keep the dogs from crushing some that were in the grass and when I looked back he was out already. It’s been a fun experience. My wife says that she thinks these will not lay eggs and are the ones that will soon head south to Mexico for the winter. The earlier ones that hatched laid eggs and then died sometime afterward.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

The Monarch caterpillars are progressing nicely this year. Here are some photos taken today. Haven’t seen a chrysalis yet, but I did see a newly hatched one a few weeks ago finding its wings in our backyard. We have multiple milkweed plants and locations this year so we are expecting even great new Monarchs this year. The last photo is my lovely wife looking down on these caterpillars growing out on the milkweed at the mailbox.
Hope others got on their Monarch projects last year when I first posted on this topic.

[FRJ]

This is a great post and subject, Mark.

I have nothing to contribute at this point but I am keeping my eye out for the Monarch.

I have seen other butterflies at the pond where I walk but no Monarch that I'm aware of.