Welcome back Catherine! Hope your computer troubles are over. I haven't had any trouble logging on but some others might've.
We've had heat and drought here too - the worst I can remember since I've been gardening. We finally got a good rain last night, much to my relief, almost an inch. We will need more though to get through the rest of August.

I thought the same here. I've noticed that the whites and sulphurs are out most of the day. While the bigger prettier ones only come out at certain times during the day. I'll have to take note of the conditions, next time! Welcome back!

Nel

Thanks christie and Nel!

We must have gotten the same storm last night christie. YAY!! My property is very happy today. I sure hope this isn't a trend, as its been very hard on everything in nature around here. And I've watered my garden so much to keep it alive, I've been afraid our well would go dry!
But I have missed those beautiful flutterbyes! Hopefully next year will be better.

I planted a new butterfly garden this year, since I moved into a new house. The bed turned out to be much shadier than I expected, but I was glad when the season ended up being so hot and dry. I'm sure I would have lost a lot of my seedlings if they'd had to endure the severe weather before being well established. I haven't seen any Monarchs, but was lucky to get a donation of eggs from NaturesFolly. They are just eclosing now. I did have tons of Red Admirals earlier, and will occasionally see a pair of them chasing around the back yard. I've only seen one Eastern Tiger Swallowtail actually nectaring on a flower in the garden. Hopefully next year will be busier, once the plants are better established and (hopefully) the weather improves. Good luck to everyone!

Martha

I'm sorry to hear about the terrible drought going on in parts of the country, but glad you guys got a little rain. Hope you get more and some butterflies too! Drought is terrible, I feel sorry for the wildlife. Water is such a precious resource that humans do not seem to appreciate as they should.

We have gotten fairly decent rain although we did have a pretty bad dry spell in July for a few weeks. Now it's raining again though. I think the butterflies have migrated this way, since activity has been pretty good. Monarchs showed up early in my gardens (approx. July 1st), and have been regular visitors since. I also saw a Giant Swallowtail last week!

Monarchs are scarce here in Madison, as well. I have seen two monarchs in the past 10 days, in our neighborhood. In past years, I would see them in our yard or flying around the neighborhood every day at this time of year. I would say that we have about 10% of the numbers that we had in recent years. However, there has been considerable rainfall north of Wausau, Wisconsin, and we saw both monarchs and white admirals while vacationing in Bayfield a few weeks ago. I guess the best we can hope for is that the fall migration is successful.

Sorry for you lack of butterflies, Catherine! :(

The drought in the central part of the country has been TERRIBLE this year - the pictures of the dried up corn have been especially disturbing. We went through a very hot dry spell in June, but we've been fortunate enough to return to normal rainfall and lower temps.

Sherry

I heard today that the high pressure system that is producing the heat and lack of rain is expected to remain over the central US for at least the next few weeks. So, no relief in sight. The corn crop is expected to be the worst in decades. that means expensive beef, milk, chicken, eggs and anything else that is raised on corn. I feel bad for anyone who struggles financially. Hopefully next year will be better.

Martha

Sorry you are hardly sseing any butterflies, I am mostly seeing the white and yellow sulfer butterflies and painted ladies. I did see a large eastern yellow swallowtail butterfly a few days ago and I do see some Monarchs but not alot.