Congrats and kudos for raising so many cats and providing for so many butterflies :) It also is an indication that your surrounding areas are relatively healthy.
I'm getting more activity as well here in Wisconsin. I have so many American Ladies that I'm about out of Pussytoes. I've had to shuttle a few cats around who've eaten themselves out of house and home. Now my Everlastings are disappearing (my Anaphalis triplinervis is GONE) and I'm still getting 1-2 ELFs a week!!
I've also been visited by several Monarchs and I've been rescuing cats around town. Ditto c BSTs on my Fennel and Red Admirals on my Nettles and Pellitory.
I have talked the landlord of the appts next door to not spray and I've spread out a bit. In return, I keep the lawn mowed.
The neighborhood kids are involved in gardening projects as well. With time and proper guidance, they will provide habitats of their own to birds, bats and insects around their homes.
Neighbors who are indifferent or just unaware of the wonders around us can be recipients of donated plants and seeds that need little to no care and attract vital pollinators. They can also be educated about the importance of beneficial insects and spiders and the damage spraying causes. Bugs are more than just flies, mosquitoes and other pests. They're a whole world unto themselves.
Keep up the good work and spread the word, Cathy.
Happy Butterflying :-)

John

'Sounds wonderful, Cathy! I'm jealous of your giant swallowtails! I haven't seen any at all this year.

Your pipevine swallowtail situation sounds almost exactly like mine. You can hear the PVS cats eating when you go to the garden! I wasn't going to raise any, but I found two chrysalides in the garden, that had been perfectly beautiful until today, with big holes in them, like some predator was chewing on them. It bothered me, so I've brought in a few cats that I found eating pitiful looking leaves - I've given them better food. I'm not going to raise many though, because even if a small percentage of these outside cats becomes a butterfly, there will be LOTS of pipevine swallowtails out there!

I also have been finding folded over leaves on my Amorpha fruticosas, also the Robinia pseudoacacia. I've also seen the adults in the garden. And, like you, I let them raise themselves.

Once you get plenty of big pipevines, you REALLY get the caterpillars, don't you?

Sherry

Hoping to see some Monarchs this year. I had none find my garden last year and the year before I was able to release 5 Monarchs that started from cats that were feeding on my butterfly weed. I live in Hughesville, Pa.

Cathy,
I understand your frustration re the disappearance of habitat. However, it is amazing how one small yard can attract and support a diversity of wildlife. We need to educate our neighbors, as John suggested, and involve children in our projects so they can pass along the message. My step children think I'm a crazy bug lady, but I give brief descriptions of what I'm doing each time they visit. Hopefully, when they have their own yards, they'll remember a bit of what they heard from me when making choices about how to manage their surroundings.

Even my coworkers have admitted to leaving milkweed plants to grow in their yards rather than yanking them as they would have done in previous years. You never know who is listening or how it can effect them. I even chatted with a Grandma at the store who was buying bug spray for her grandson to keep mosquitoes off of him. People are truly good and want to do the right thing. They just don't know what is right or how to do it.

Martha

Let's all give a big round of applause for our First Lady.
Michelle Obama has incorporated Milkweed and other pollinator friendly flowers into the White House Garden. :):) I really think she is one of our better First Ladies.

John

Go Michelle!!!! Maybe we should send donations of plants and seeds. I'd love to see some wintersown milk jugs on the White House sidewalks.

Martha

Thanks for the comments, everyone!
John, I'd say that the surrounding area is healthy just like you said. It's a rural area but of course like most everywhere else getting built up more and more by the year. I hope that you'll have enough food to feed your American Ladies. Just last night I decided to bring some in so that we could watch them better. They're much easier to bring in on the Pearly Everlasting than they are on the pussytoes, although I have both and they lay eggs on both. I wasn't going to bring any in, but they're so pretty; I have about 20 on our screened back porch.
I haven't seen any Monarchs yet. You're lucky that you've gotten a visit from them. I'm really hoping that more and more people will plant milkweed and that their numbers will increase after having such a dramatic drop. If other people would get as excited about the Monarchs and other butterflies as you are, I'm sure that their populations would soar. :-)

Sherry, I wish too that you'd have the Giant Swallowtails pay you a visit. I think they're such a neat caterpillar and butterly even if my mom does say that the cats look like monsters. lol I guess she was used to less "scary"-looking types like the Monarchs and Black Swallowtails, and along comes this big bad Giant. Ha, my mom is in her 70's and makes me laugh with some of the things that she says, but then again, I suppose my family thinks I'm kind of goofy too. They do love raising the cats too though.
I'll cross my fingers that you get lots of Giant Swallowtails because I know that you have plenty to feed them and would have fun raising them. I think I remember that you too love to raise those and the Pipevine Swallowtails. My PVST are hatching here and there and I have them in several instars now, which reminds me that I should go out and gather more leaves for them.

Martha, That's great that your co-workers are leaving milkweed grow at their places and not pulling them or spraying them. It does our hearts good to see milkweed growing at places. My mom has some that came up in amongst the vines in her yard that I planted for her years ago. You can tell that they're not meant to be there and probably to other people looks unsightly, but I told her I'm leaving them there for the Monarchs and she's fine with that.

I really do try to educate people about the butterflies and hope that some people pick up on it. I bought some parsley at Lowe's the other year and was showing the BST cats on it to people in the store. After having a lengthy talk about them to the clerk in the gardening section telling her what they were, etc., it was very disheartening to me as I was leaving to have her say, "I'd still squish them." Some people just can't be educated, unfortunately, but I think that a lot can. I think that the world would be a better place with lots of butterflies around. I think that all of us here are working on that. :-)
Cathy