Milkweed for Monarchs Plant it and they will come Waystation

Judy, we actually have patches of common milkweed at work.. I asked a couple of the guys to dig some up for me the other day so I could bring it home and plant it.. ALAS! It got mowed back before they could dig it up!! =( I am heart-sick over it!!! I am keeping an eye on that area, and when I see it start to come back up a bit more again, I shall dig it up my own darned self and pot it up and bring it home! (keeping 1 and 3-gallon sized pots in my truck now for just that purpose).
On my drive home from work, I was going a bit extra slowly, looking around at what's growing wild along the roadways and there's a LOT more of it than I ever realized before.. thankfully it's just a bit too far off the road for the county mowers to get to it! < =D

Meanwhile, I don't think I see any seedlings coming up from all the seeds I sowed in the driveway side bed... it's so difficult to tell though 'cause there's TONS of Shasta Daisies in that bed, many of which are blooming and/or budding now.. might be shading out the Asclepias. I weeded this past weekend but was careful to ONLY pull out Holly seedlings, Clover, Crab Grass, Henbit, Creeping Oxalis, and Spurge. I did not touch anything that I did not recognize, so will keep a close eye on things. I hope the Daisies did not shade out the seeds and keep them from germinating. :(

"a bit neglected" is a mild way of describing my garden areas... no wonder I have lots of pollinators! :-)

Speedie, Here's a thought... Maybe you could get your nursery to become a certified Monarch Waystation! Instead of mowing down the Milkweed make it s patches into a variety of waystation demo gardens featuring all the great nectar plants as well!

http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/

On digging up Common Milkweed

"Its kinda hard to do it though, deep root systems, believe me I've tried to dig up common milkweed and most of the time it died ( note "the wild" was my dads backyard and he wanted it pulled up anyway)
I have been told (at a class on milkweed) that you can dig up at least 1' of the root to transplant in the spring time. This is best done before the plant has started sending up shoots but certainly can be done even with 6" of growth already. What often happens, is the plant will go dormant for the year! They focus on root production only and skip the green growth part until triggered next year. Much of this root growth is focused on regrowing the tap root. With no green growth to judge from this makes knowing if you should water or not tricky at best.

That said I am eagerly awaiting to find out if that's true. I planted 3 purple milkweeds last year. They arrived in the mail in 4" pots and already had green shoots growing, which was very early in the year. When I planted them, only 1 of them kept green growth for the year. The other two went dormant. This year I'm hoping that all three come back."

Muddy, Sallyg and I have all dug up Common Milkweed this Spring. Maybe the three of us can compare methods and successes (hopefully). More later, just sayin that now is not the time to do this digging!

Thank you a HEAP for the heads-up Judy!! I will wait until next March or early April then. =)

A cabbage white landed near me today on the lavender while I was checking plants, so I got a photo of it!

I'm not fond of cabbage whites, as I believe they are the vector for the wilt that eliminates cucumber plants just as they're starting to fruit. I've taken to planting cucumbers at the end of June, under row covers until they blossom, and that lets me escape the problem.

In all fairness, it may be that the cabbage white co-occurs with some other insect that spreads this wilt, but I still see them as harbingers of doom!

However, it's also the first butterfly that Joyanna ever saw in person, and her squeals of delight and demands that it "sit!!" so she could get closer will always be a treasured memory.

There are a lot of herbs that repel cabbage whites and their caterpillars. Unfortunately, they are one of the most common butterflies in all of North America. If another butterfly had perched near me, I would have taken a picture of it instead. ;-)

okay, I got a photo of a different butterfly when it happened to land near me this morning. It's pale yellow--my guess is a Dainty Sulphur. It has the gray spots on the wings, and it is the only sulphur that I have host plants for--Marigold (T. tenuifolia and T. patula) and Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale). I have seen several of them now fluttering about, and this makes me happy!! :-)

Milkweeds can be propagated from root cuttings. One source: "in the fall, carefully take up a mature plant and cut the taproot into 2-inch sections. Position each section vertically in a sandy rooting mix outdoors and keep slightly moistened."

Also, terminal stem cuttings taken before flowering can be rooted in sand or sand/pearlite mix in a humidity tent.

David?---Paul??...Jeff...??

How would you like to propagate my BEAUTIFUL "Bob Hope" Camellia?
Have you ever done it? I understand that it is NOT a simple thing to do.

It has grown way too bushy--and I will be cutting it back in August.
It lost almost all it's bloom buds this winter--so there was nothing to look at.
Instead--it is now growing a bit wild!

This camellia is so gorgeous! Triple wavy petals in huge blooms.
I am sure you have seen my pictures of it before. But will post a couple again.

Gita

1 & 2--from 2005. #3--from 2008

Some of my Milkweeds are starting to bloom:
Asclepias exaltata - Poke Milkweed
A.purpurascens - Purple Milkweed (2 photos)
A. perennis - White Milkweed just coming into bloom

Beautiful camellia, Gita!

Love your milkweed, Greenthumb--especially the purple milkweed! Mine is nowhere near blooming.

I like the Purple Milkweed too.
My Swamp Milkweed has buds. My Butterfly Weed has more buds than I've ever seen on it before; maybe I doused it with more fertilizer than usual. The Joe Pye Weeds have buds, too, and so far the June bugs haven't found them. I barely managed to keep them alive last year.

Sounds like I need to use some fertilizer!! :-) What kind do you use, Muddy?

I usually use a perennials fertilizer called "Flowers Alive" that is sold by Gardens Alive, but I couldn't find the bag I bought so I used Plant Tone instead. "Flowers Alive" is a 3-3-1 fertilizer and Plant Tone is 5-3-3, so that might have made the difference.

Hmmmm, I think it's time to feed mind as well... and to cut those daisies back as well; I think mine are having trouble with a combination of not enough nutrients in the soil and too many daisies in the soil (which may be contributing to the first problem - all the daisies are eating all the goodies that are there!) The very few babies that are coming up, that I suspect are Asclepias, are still too small to know for sure what they are. < =/

thanks, Muddy. I might try some of the Plant Tone, too.

Muddy--

As much as I garden--I am SO slack about fertilizing anything once it is growing.
Usually, I mix in some Osmacote into the planting areas and let it do its thing..

I have a full, big bag of "Plant Tone"--bought the bags at the Nursery we all
went to after the seed swap. One each!

Do you just sprinkle it around the plants?
This reminds me--time to put down some Rose Tone as well....
What else do you feed your roses?

Thanks- Gita

As per the title of this thread, apparently planting Milkweed will draw Monarchs. Saw my first of the season this morning on our Purple Milkweed. What a treat! :-)

Still no caterpillars to be found anywhere.

I have alyssum in the raised beds and there are tiny pollinators all over them. What could they be?

Catmint, the parsley babies I got from you are doing really well and almost ready to be transplanted.

that's terrific, Greenthumb! I'm with SSG--no cats visible anywhere.

SSG, alyssum attracts several beneficial insects, including pirate, damsel, and big-eyed bugs, assassin bugs, lady bugs, and mini-wasps! Sounds like yours is doing its job! :-)

I hope that what I gave you is indeed the hamburg parsley, SSG. I'm beginning to wonder if some of the seedlings showing up near where I sowed the parsley are celosia (volunteers from last year). sigh. Fingers crossed for both of us that some of the parsley made it!!

I haven't seen any skippers around this past week. I sure hope the milky spore didn't affect them. :-(

I haven't seen any butterflies, but they've got to come sooner or later. The bees are loving the lamb's ear flowers; other than that there isn't much activity around my plants. Nothing is interested in my Monarda (bee balm) even though those red flowers are really popping right now!

Gita: Yes, I just sprinkle the Plant Tone around the plants. I only have 2 pathetic-looking rose bushes, and I don't remember the last time I fertilized them. They might get Plant Tone too!

Muddy--

I learned, a long time ago, that along with Systemic Rose Care feeding--
or "Rose Tone"--also include a hand-full of Epsom Salts.
It encourages new shoots from the base. Works every time for me....

I have 3 Roses that are good repeat bloomers. One of the 3 is a climbing Rose.
Somewhere--buried under years of other growths--is also a 4th--an OLD Tropicana.
It is in my YUK bed--almost invisible with all the DL foliage amassing now.
It cannot be moved--I tried once--and just a couple inches below the soil,
encountered a big, fat maple root--bigger than s broomstick--anchoring the rest
of the plant for eternity.

I get one stem every year--with maybe one or two blooms. That's it!
It is a brilliant orange-apricot.

This is out of focus--but I got to it too late...

Very pretty color, Gita.

Went out late last night to put my new BST cat (thanks Coleup!) on some rue, and everywhere in the warm summer night was the sweet spicy fragrance of sage and basil, and the fireflies flickering on and off--so nice to just breathe in deeply and enjoy.

Came home from work and went first thing to check on my new BST cat. Found him munching away contentedly in the rue--I could literally see him holding on to the tiny stem and gobbling it down. He already looks fatter and bigger than when I got him from Coleup last night! Hard to get a good pic because of the lighting but here's one:

Yours was the smallest and youngest of the 7. Glad transition from fennel to rue went well. Iwill be putting the sibs in a rearing cage soon with some sticks for them to pupate on rather than letting them crawl off never to be seen again. I wonder which nectar plants they will choose and if they will lay 2nd generation eggs on the fennel, parsley rue or Queen Annes Lace down the end of the road?

They have eaten thru 4 fairly large fennel plants so far and kept eating last night til about 9:30 pm and were up and eating when I went out at 6 am! Think I'll feed the fennel some dilute fish emulsion when they are done. The last time I used fish emulsion it drew lots of curious bugs with the smell!

Happy National Pollinator Week everyone!

David, anyone there in Loudoun Cty seeing Monarch eggs?

I wonder if I should put mine in a special rearing environment? I hate the thought of him crawling off never to be seen--or worse, getting eaten by one of the baby praying mantises I've seen around. What does a rearing cage look like?

Muddy, my monarda fistulosa is covered in pollinators, but my monarda 'Jacob Cline' and 'Coral Reef' not so much. I wonder if this is because they're in a shadier spot than the M. fistulosa?

I'm looking forward to the red monarda flowers--I keep hoping for some hummingbirds but so far nothing this year. I used a packet mix this time for the hummingbird feeders, but next time I'll try the sugar water mix others are using and see if that helps.

http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/eastern-black-swallowtail/

CatMint, the one thing I keep reading about native plants is how they evolved with the pollinators so that they are perfectly suited to give each other what they need. Maybe the pollinators can't get nectar and pollen as easily from Mondarda cultivars and so head to the M. fistulosa instead. Whatever the reason, I have to say that my Monarda 'Gardenview Scarlet' seems to be a bust from the pollinators' point of view. Pretty, but of no interest to bees. They're waiting for the Salvia 'Black and Blue', I guess.

I wish I'd kept at least one of the 3 Monarda fistulosas I planted in our homeowners association's common land. I was down there this evening to water some new seedlings and didn't see any Monarda blooms. I think they're still there, although I didn't wade through the vegetation to check, so I'm going to assume they're in a shadier location than yours, CatMint, and will bloom when they're good and ready!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/butterfly/msg0723520313061.html
"As I mentioned earlier, within the same species there are differences by regions. Primarily in attributes such as emergence, length of time before flowering, vigor of growth, tolerance to wet/dry periods, disease/insects. In other words, even though the same species exists in different regions, the plants from a particular region have had mother nature selecting out attributes that make the plants best suited to the environment.

All of this is to say that if you are just wanting a particular species to grow in your garden that you cultivate, and you don't live next door to a protected prairie or wild area, then just get seed/plants from anywhere. However, if you are putting plants in your garden that you don't intend to cultivate and let fend for itself, or are trying to restore a native habitat, then it is best to try to get seed/plant sources from your region.

Here are some quotes from Western Illinois University reports on commercial Common milkweed production studies. "Plot establishment (2001): seed was collected from locations in Wyoming, Nebraska, and Illinois", and "Second year results (2002): with the Illinois population showing the most vigor as evidenced by increased height, resistance to fungal diseases, and number of blooms and pods ... with the Illinois population of common milkweed being the last to mature." Also, "Third year results (2003): The Illinois population surpassed the non-native populations in disease and insect resistance as well as plant height and strength."

That's a really cool study, Judy, and the results make perfect sense to me. It also makes me re-think my burning desire to grow Monarda.

Muddy and Coleup, I think you guys are right! It's really good to focus on plants that are native to our midatlantic region, and sometimes the species plant will attract more pollinators than some of the latest cultivars. This is a major reason why I leave the spiderwort in my garden, even though it's not my favorite--it's native to our region and as far as I can tell, since it's an older variety, may also be the species plant rather than a cultivar bred for a specific purpose. The pollinators do like it. They also *love* the monarda fistulosa--the species plant.

Well, I feel like I'm learning a lot this year about building a better native habitat--and regret the mistakes I made last year, particularly the over-mulching and over-cleanup. This year I'm going more au naturale! :-) And next year I may try concentrating my herbs again rather than spreading them throughout the garden, just in case other butterflies besides cabbage white are repelled by their scent.

Coleup, love that photo of all the hungry caterpillars! hey, very hungry caterpillar sounds like a great title for a children's board book! oh, wait--it's been done already--LOL! ;-)

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) is native to Virginia, in addition to almost every state in the country according to the USDA map, so it's a good idea to grow it, Speedie. CatMint will give you some seeds, right?

In spite of the fact that hummingbirds and bees are shunning my Monarda cultivar, I like it because it is blooming now. My garden is too heavy on fall-blooming perennials.

You know---I have NOT seen any of my Monardas bloom yet either!

I would think by now they would. What is the time frame for them to bloom???
G.

Gita, I have red monarda in full bloom in one area but another type of monarda (Raspberry Wine?) isn't blooming yet.

The "Raspberry Wine" is the one I miss the most....

God! i will wait......patiently. Thanks, G.