Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 46, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Speaking of Monarchs...I thought my plants were temporarily clear, or at the very least I just had a few babies roaming around. Then, yesterday I was out walking around killing slugs when I saw FOUR Monarch cats on my milkweed. And they're on the old raggedy stuff - not even the nicer looking milkweed! And these guys are like 3rd or 4th instar. Where do they hide?!

So as I was walking around with caterpillars in one hand and the salt shaker (for the slugs) in the other my neighbor pulls in and asks if I've seen any of those same butterflies again. This is the neighbor who asked me about the Spicebush STs who were mating the other day. I told her no, but that I had some Monarch caterpillars at which point I stuck out my hand. She has two daughters and the one was literally hanging out the window wanting to see. When I told Mom it was ok to touch them she let her daughter pet one. Once the younger sister did it, the older sister had to do it, too. I told her I raised butterflies and that I volunteer at MOSI, etc. So she said they'd have to come visit me and my butterflies soon. It's so fun to get kids who are excited about simple things like caterpillars.

And in more Monarch news...Mom released one boy and three girl Monarchs today. Luckily, I had the girls in the butterfly house and the boy in the critter keeper. Not intentionally - just worked out that way.

Here's a picture Mom took of a Monarch today. This isn't one she released today, but we've been releasing a lot lately so I like to think it's one that decided to stick around.

Melanie