We ordered lots of plants to host and nectar Monarchs and other pollinators on our first thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1349252/
and we'll finish up our ordering on the Group Buy thread over here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1349274/
Even though our plants won't arrive for several more weeks we can discuss our Waystations or polinator promoting plans!
This year I am proposing that each of us plant a concentrated patch of a Waystation in addition to other host and nectar plants we may already be growing using the Milkweed (10 plants of at least 2 kinds) and Primary Nectar (Goldenrod and Aster 2+ per Milkweed) with Secondary Nectar 2-4 plants on order from North Creek. I'm calling it the Waystation Kit for 2014 as outlined below. * indicates ordered plants from the Loudoun Wildlife recommended list.
2014 Monarch Waystation Kit
Host Milkweed (10 plant min of 2 species)
*Common Asclepias syriaca
*Swamp Asclepias incarnata
*ButterflyWeed Asclepias tuberosa
*Tropical Milkweed Asclepias currasavaca
Primary Nectar plants (2-4 per each milkweed)
*New England Aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
*Narrow-leaved Goldenrod Solidago graminifolia
*Rough-stemmed Goldenrod Solidago rugosa
*Other Goldenrods and Asters
Secondary Nectar Plants (2 or more )
*Calico Aster Symphyotrichum laterifolum
*New York Ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis
*Orange Coneflower Rudbeckia fulgida
*Dense Blazing Star Liatris spicata
Blue Mistflower Conoclinum coelestinum
Joe-Pye Weed (hollow stemmed) Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus
Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint Pycanthemum tenuifolium
Blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta
*Other
This message was edited Apr 1, 2014 10:29 AM
Reserved
This message was edited Apr 24, 2014 10:07 PM
Muddy, I am trying to be more planful as well! It is hard when there are so many factors to consider. E.g., when I look at my plants, I have host/nectar not only for monarch but for others as well, like black swallowtail, painted lady, grey hairstreak, and so on. At first I was hoping to place specific butterfly host/nectar plants next to each other, but it seems I can only do this to an extent because of other factors like light/soil requirements, and of course space (darn space!). But I'm able to do a little bit of it...
Well, at any rate it's fun planning! :-)
CM, since flying insects are by nature very mobile, you do not need to have your host/nectar plants closely juxtaposed. (Think Golden Corral as opposed to McDonald's.) Having the mix of plants scattered around your property still qualifies as a Waystation.
Thanks Green thumb that is good to know and I like the buffet analogy! :-)
LOL! I've never been to a Golden Corral, so that analogy totally flew over my head.
Meal provided at one spot vs. spread over 150 feet.
They are on their way!!!
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2014/update032714.html
Please bookmark the Journey North site above to track this year's migrations of Monarchs North.
I hope all of us will do our citizen scientist best to make our sightings part of the record. Those who can can get the app for reporting right on our phones!
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/mobile/index.html
The closest to us sighting last week was mid Georgia and if the migration moves about 25 miles North a day these butterflies do not stay in one location very long (The one you see today is not necessarily the one you saw last week!) So we need lots of Golden Waystations along the way: Arches and Corrals. What is important at either is the menu of Milkweed and nectar sources (Oh yes, and water for 'puddling')
This year I am proposing that each of us plant a concentrated patch of a Waystation in addition to other host and nectar plants we may already be growing using the Milkweed (10 plants of at least 2 kinds) and Primary Nectar (Goldenrod and Aster 2+ per Milkweed) with Secondary Nectar 2-4 plants on order from North Creek. I'm calling it the Waystation Kit for 2014 as outlined below. * indicates ordered plants from the Loudoun Wildlife recommended list.
2014 Monarch Waystation Kit
Host Milkweed (10 plant min of 2 species)
*Common Asclepias syriaca
*Swamp Asclepias incarnata
*ButterflyWeed Asclepias tuberosa
*Tropical Milkweed Asclepias currasavaca
Primary Nectar plants (2-4 per each milkweed)
*New England Aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
*Narrow-leaved Goldenrod Solidago graminifolia
*Rough-stemmed Goldenrod Solidago rugosa
*Other Goldenrods and Asters
Secondary Nectar Plants (2 or more )
*Calico Aster Symphyotrichum laterifolum
*New York Ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis
*Orange Coneflower Rudbeckia fulgida
*Dense Blazing Star Liatris spicata
Blue Mistflower Conoclinum coelestinum
Joe-Pye Weed (hollow stemmed) Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus
Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa
Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint Pycanthemum tenuifolium
Blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta
*Other
Whew, we have finished our North Creek Group Buy orders for now and are all awaiting arrival and divy up of our plants. Well over 2000 plants a majority of which are native and friendly to our pollinators. Well done all.
As the dust settles some I will post more details on our MidAtlantic Forum Waystation project.
In the meantime Monarch cats are munching away and eclosing in Texas and Florida who will be the Grand and Great Grand Parents of those who reach us.
Whats the pollinator activity like in your garden now that the snow and deep freese is fast becoming a memory?
All, I will update the google spreadsheet with your total order and $ amount owed as soon as I receive the final order details from coleup. As stated in the group buy details, just re-imburse me when you receive your plants at the divvy up at SSG's house on Wed, Apr 23 or at my house on Sat, Mat 31 for the spring swap. Judy, you have dmail...
Should my A. incarnata be waking up now? I'm not seeing them yet.
Terri, are you still thinking that you'd be here at around 6?
I can hold the plants at my house through that weekend. I'd prefer to not hold them for any longer, because I'm so afraid of killing them!
SSG, you have dmail :)
Coleup, are Terri & I supposed to pick up these Monarch Waystation flats on the 23rd also, or are we getting those just before the spring swap? At one point you mentioned something about shipping on those... please, let's avoid shipping stress (and cost), since we'll be going up there anyway!
As for "waystation" plants, I'm really only interested in the white Asclepias incarnata for myself and would take 6 to 12 plants of it... I thought you had me down for it at some point but don't see it on the list(s) above. I'll put in some additional butterfly/native areas in a few years (when the construction behind me ends), but I don't have the right spots now for some of the larger or more aggressive plants on the above list.
This message was edited Apr 10, 2014 11:30 PM
I am planning to donate back many of the plants I'm getting to the Monarch Waystation effort. To me, it is a good cause that I want to invest in.
This was in our local paper this week.
http://www.bayweekly.com/articles/creature-feature/article/plight-monarchs
The Plight of the Monarchs
Help give their migration a future
Since the last Ice Age, monarch butterflies have followed the path of the glaciers in their annual migration. The orange and black creatures are more fragile than the magnolia blossoms now in their short season. Yet in September, tens of thousands of monarchs fly from the midlands of the United States all the way to southern Mexico.
Again this spring, they rise from the oyamel fir trees to reverse their migration. Those seasoned long-distance fliers reach the southern U.S. before their lives and wings are worn out. By then they’ve laid the eggs of the next generation. The grandchildren of those migrators will reach Canada this summer. Their great-grandchildren will be this season’s Mexican migrators.
Ours could be the last human generation to witness this epic migration.
Or we can enlist in the army of revival. The company is good, the purpose inspiring and the story an epic in its own right.
Until the second half of the last century, no human knew where the monarchs went.
To solve that mystery University of Toronto zoologist Fred Urquhart and wife Norah formed a continental army. Using a print network of newspapers and books, they recruited volunteers to capture, tag and recover the migrating monarchs.
One of their hundreds of recruits, Elmer Dengler of Bowie, now wants to enlist you.
Your first mission won’t be as demanding as Dengler’s. A southeastern Pennsylvania boy who saw the Urquharts’ appeal in a library book, he bred and tagged 1,000 monarchs in a single summer.
“I got a report back from Dr. Urquhart that one of mine was captured on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama less than 30 days after I’d released it,” Dengler told Bay Weekly.
Retired now from a career that took him around the nation as an environmental systems manager, he returned to, he says, “the insect that sparked my career.”
“The current migrating monarch population is as low as two percent of original levels,” he reports. “Time has almost run out.”
Loss of habitat is the force pushing extinction. Development, illegal logging and agribusiness threaten the monarch caterpillar’s only food: milkweed.
Reversing those trends on fronts from planting to policy is the mission of a new continental army organized under Monarch Watch.
Michelle Obama has already signed on, planting a pollinator garden at the White House. The presidents and prime ministers of Canada, Mexico and the United States have joined forces to create monarch-saving policy.
Dengler’s mission for you is planting one of thousands of monarch butterfly way-stations.
“As long as you have a patio or more in terms of sunny outside area,” he says, “you can help the monarchs.”
Working with the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club, Dengler has assembled kits of 11 monarch-friendly plants for the group’s April 26 plant sale.
“The butterflies are first attracted to the nectar plants,” he says. “After feeding, they slow down enough to notice the food source plants for their caterpillars and begin to lay eggs.”
At the sale, you’ll learn all about planting your way-station. But, Dengler advises, “the 50 kits will go early.”
Learn more about protecting monarchs at www.monarchwatch.org.
Shop the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club sale Saturday, April 26, 8:30am to noon at Bowie Library. NOTE: 50 Monarch Way Station Kits @ $25.00 per kit available "1st come 1st served" day of sale. (limit 1 per family) Quantities are limited due to lack of Milkweed availability, however other individual plants from the kit may be purchased separately. www.bcgardenclub.org.
__________________________
I'll be getting the Milkweeds for the kits I'm putting together this week!
Should my A. incarnata be waking up now? I'm not seeing them yet.
Muddy, Journey North follows the Monarch migration North each spring and Fall. They have people from all over reporting in their first sighting of Monarchs, eggs, cats and first emergence of Milkweed
Here is link to Monarch sightings this week
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_spring2014.html
And to first milkweed emerging reports
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/milkweed_spring2014.html
From the maps it looks like this week is the first week wih reports of milkweed emergence in our area. I believe that common milkweed (syriaca) emerges before Swamp (incarnata) and then comes tuberosa.
Does this mean that I've been too paranoid about sowing my Asclepias seeds too early for nothing?? I've been worried that, with the temps being as low as they've been, it might be too early to sow them... all for naught? If I sow them this weekend will it be alright? thank you!!
Speedie,
All the Asclepias species that are native locally can (and should) be fall or winter sown, so there is no need to be paranoid about sowing too early. Since all the local species require cold, moist stratification for good germination, if sow now you will likely get sporadic germination this season and additional germination next spring.
Speedie, I winwtersowed A. incarnata last year and got really good germination.
On Sunday, Nicole Hamilton, who is the VA person leading the Monarch efforts for our state, posted this info on buying Monarch caterpillars. The title is "Should I Buy Monarch Caterpillars? In a word — NO" and the link is below.
http://www.loudounwildlife.org/blog/
We picked up a rearing house and the book earlier this month. Supplies and instructions are here.
http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Monarch_Campaign_Raise_Release_Monarchs.html
Thanks Ecnalg!
This is a wonderful study of Milkweed I found recently. Greenthumb and Pat let me know what you think and pass it on to Nicole if she doesn't already have it. Milkweed is best growing in colonies for all the species that it serves..
http://natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/milkweed.htm
Not working? Try this
1. [PDF]
the story of an organism: common milkweed - Nature Institute
www.natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/Milkweed.pdf
* Cached
THE STORY OF AN ORGANISM: COMMON MILKWEED. Craig Holdrege. All I am
saying is that there is also drama in every bush, if you can see it. When.
Speediebean you might enjoy learning how one woman created a Monarch Sanctuary and now does a Monarch Ministry for people in transition
http://www.mymonarchbutterflyministry.com/-/mymonarchbutterflyministry/article.asp?ID=4700
Below is a picture of her 'rearing cage' butterfly house, the bouquets she delivers and a chrysilis used with her permission amd my thanks.
Pat, can we order books and supplies thru you and pick up at the Swap?
Sure hoping we can do this amazing group effort as a group as we go along, just like the butterflies. transforming and emerging separately and joining up in flight for the long haul to the future.
Tomorrow is Earth Day 2014 and we have promises to keep!
This message was edited Apr 21, 2014 7:33 PM
Oh Judy, that was soooooooo beautiful, thank you a TON for sharing that!!!!! Now I'm SUPER excited to get out there and clean up that bed and get those seeds sown! Thank you David, for the heads-up about germination. I will be patient, (I promise!), and I will sow them ALL. (just to be sure). =)
Judy - It tells me that the web page cannot be found when I try the link. I will check with Nicole, though, to see if I can be the transporter for any of the books or rearing houses that people want to buy.
Coleup--
As much as I have not been part of all this Monarch Butterflies thing---
I will have you know that i already have some of their plants in my garden.
Not sure they will come and visit a development--=but if they do--they are welcome..
IF they sprout up from this hard winter--I already have:
"?" is that I am not sure if this is a nectar plant)
New England Aster
One Butterfly Bush
Tiger Lilies
B&B Salvia
Cardinal Flower
BE Susans
Cone Flowers
Big Alliums (?)
Will plant a mini sized Goldrnrod
I have Phlox--in 3 different places (?)
Will have 2 plants of VA Bluebells--just bought them.
Lots of Zinnias (?)
Lady-in-red salvias
And--if any germinated--or IF someone will give me some--Butterfly Weed.
Not bad! Come on over Butterflies---had plenty of threm last year--
but don't think i saw a Monarch???
Fed a lot of cats. for Black Swallow Tails. They ate all my Dill and parsley--
and I allowed them to. Bought lots of new of these....
As you can see--i AM with you--just on a smaller scale.
From last summer.....
Gita, I'm going to make a point of sowing dill in any empty spot, for the black swallowtails. Although efforts across the country are being focused on the Monarchs, all the hummingbirds, butterflies, honeybees, and other pollinators will benefit if people make at least part of their yard/garden more wildlife-friendly. And we'll get to enjoy all those lovely blooms, too! win-win. Great photos, btw.
hi, Gita. I expect to have many extra plants from the MWS buy to share with you. :-)
Critter, I totally agree about having yards that support the ecosystem in a variety of ways. At this point I have invested not only in monarch host and nectar plants, but other butterfly host plants as well--and also flowers and shrubs that support bees, hummingbirds, and songbirds, and a variety of herbs and other plants that support beneficial insects. So the MWS is an important piece of a larger puzzle in building gardens and yards that provide habitat for many of our native species.
Judy - It tells me that the web page cannot be found when I try the link. I will check with Nicole, though, to see if I can be the transporter for any of the books or rearing houses that people want to buy.
Coleup, thanks for the PDF link, that is a nice article.
Gita, what lovely pics of your tiger lily and its visitor!!
Critter and Cat, thank you for the reminder - need to get some dill and parsley planted as well; I'm sure someone will come for dinner if I do! =)
I think the dill was one of the things that didn't make it into people's goodie bags at the seed swap, although some may have found it in my stash of available seeds... I'll try to get some packets made up to hand around at the spring swap. I bought a big pack of 'Dukat', a variety that is very slow to bolt, so it grows lots of foliage! I haven't found my red tropical milkweed seeds yet (another commercial pack I plan to share), but hopefully they'll turn up soon.
Critter, I got some of your Dukat at the plant swap! :-) Thanks!
Good!
Speaking of seeds... I just got an email from Hazzard's (great source for big packs to split), and Joyce is offering 10% off on perennial seeds. They have a pretty good selection of Asclepias and Solidago (butterfly weed & goldenrod), check and see if there's anything you've been looking for. hazzardsgreenhouse.com
Oh wow Critter, thank you for sharing that site, I see somewhere that I can get into loads of troubles if I'm not careful! < =D
Thinking I may have time today (when I get home from getting my oil changed) to get started cleaning up that driveway-side bed and get it ready for all the asclepias. Woohoo!!
:-) they have the 'lupine perennis we were talking about, too.
