Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Plant it and they will come Monarchs and Pollinators, 1 by coleup

coleup wrote:
I was in total tears twice this afternoon. For the last several weeks I have wanted to check out the huge Milkweed fields near the Naval Academy where I saw a number of Monarch cats last fall. Just wanted to see how that milkweed was doing and if there were any eggs or baby cats since their have been ;sightings' of adults in our area. So I grabbed Wayne and we went out there for a quick look see.

Lots of Common milkweed, past bloom and forming seed pods. No aphids but some milkweed beetles on a few plants. No eggs that we could find. So we picked some wild blackberries and proceeded down the trail/road to where it turns along the Bay with forest on one side and faily open meadow on the other. Not much blooming. Saw some grasshoppers and a BST and two deer. Ahead there is a low spot in the dirt road where the puddles remain and there is mud a perfect spot for butterflies. Wayne saw it first, a Monarch at the edge of the puddle! My heart leapt and tears streamed, but as we got closer we realized that this first Monarch of the year was dead. Yes, perfect, but dead. Geez. As I picked up the body Wayne said, At least we know one made it this far maybe there are others." We took a little cut off deer trail down to the water's edge and gazed across the Bay. Saw some Joe Pye Weed and Butterfly Weed (tuberosa) and several rose colored hardy hibiscus, a stand of very interesting grass and several tall plants with spikes of yellow flowers that I think are wild Sienna. Another BST but huge! Made both of us duck!

Maybe it was a Spicebush Swallowtail instead...We were already heading back and sure enough we followed it, it followed us back to the puddle in the road spot and settled down on a beautiful Butterfly Weed in full bloom that was already occupied by a nectaring very alive second Monarch of the year!

Plant it because they have come and it's the right thing to do.