Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
docmom_mn_zone_5

Pictures of my Monarch Nursery

docmom_gw
9 years ago

I have had great luck in the past week finding Monarch eggs. I've not seen an actual butterfly in several weeks, but they are clearly present. See below.

Comments (7)

  • Michaela (Zone 5b - Iowa)
    9 years ago

    Wow - you have a lot! How much milkweed do you grow in your garden?

    Michaela

  • molanic
    9 years ago

    That is great! I know you were worried you weren't going to have any there. I'm assuming the pic is just upside-down or else they have cremasters of steel!

  • docmom_gw
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Sorry the pic is upside down. My iPad automatically corrects the direction, so it looks fine to me.

    I have about 10 mature incarnata plants, 6 mature tuberosa plants, and a patch of 20 or more of an unknown variety that is in the shade, so never blooms. I found all the eggs on the unknown or the incarnata, and primarily on the younger sprouts.

    I also have a neighbor with tons of common Milkweed. I got my most recent batch of eggs from his yard, about 14 eggs that are now all hatched.

    Martha

  • molanic
    9 years ago

    I heard the image rotation thing happens with portrait images and landscape ones with the volume button as the shutter on iphones and ipads. They save all images the same way unrotated, but add an orientation tag to tell the image viewer how to display them. I think most non-Apple browsers don't recognize the tag to rotate the image. I'm sure the non-Apple developers are aware of this and are intentionally not supporting it just to mess with us all :) I couldn't find a browser plug-in to handle it either. Not a big deal for single photos or if I am on a tablet and can just flip it, but kind of frustrating on some threads trying to look at 30 upside-down or sideways images on my monitor. Good neck stretching exercise though:)

    Have you ever had any monarch eggs on your tuberosa past the seedling stage? My common milkweed and swamp milkweed are both looking kind of rough. The common is covered with aphids and sticky honeydew, while the swamp mw has yellowing and black-spotted leaves. The large mature tuberosas looks great and even have some new tender growth coming along now at the tips. I have not found a single egg or cat on the healthy tuberosa, but they keep laying eggs on the less appealing looking common and swamp mw. The only time I found eggs on tuberosa was at the seedling stage or if I had a monarch in the spring when it was first emerging from the ground. At least the bees really like the tuberosa blossoms though.

  • dragonflydee
    9 years ago

    I wish I could get some;I have not seen one this season.
    I have not even seen any Viceroys,although I used to see
    Them.We still have Willows down the road so this too is
    A puzzle.

    DD

  • badzoe
    9 years ago

    I found four monarch caterpillars on my two tuberosas today. Last year, they didn't touch it.

    As for the common milkweed, I've been staggering when I cut them back to the ground, so I have fresh plants in August and September. Many of my plants still have seed pods on them, so I will wait until I harvest the seeds and then cut it back.

  • docmom_gw
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I've never found eggs or cats on my tuberosa. I think tuberosa is less nutritious than the other varieties, based on reading I've done here. So, I think it is not favored by the Monarch egg layers. But, my sister had several cats on her tuberosa several years ago, before she had any other types of milkweed growing. So, Monarchs can grow successfully on tuberosa. It's just not a favorite. And that might change from year to year, depending on the weather.

    Martha

Sponsored
Carl Williamson Designs, LLC
Average rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars10 Reviews
Nationally Acclaimed Interior Designer | 2x Best of Houzz