Great news! Isn't it exciting when a mama leaves you lots of eggs. Glad you have plenty of MW to feed the babies.

I had a female "egg dump" on me this past week. I've got lots of eggs now! Our season is short, and soon the Monarchs will stop laying here altogether, so I will try to raise as many as possible.

Congrats! The season has had a slow start but seems things have really taken off. Thanks goodness.

Yay! I finally saw a Monarch here in southwest Missouri this week after not seeing any for a few weeks, but it was a male so no eggs.
Mary - Do you have a boggy area for your swamp milkweed? My one try with it failed but I want to try again. It didn't like my hot dry summer. I watered it a lot but it died anyway.

When I went out get more sassafras and pipevine leaves for my cats this morning, I saw a female monarch, the first monarch I've seen since early spring -
{{gwi:528243}}
They must be heading to Mexico.
This is the time I normally get eggs - 'sure hope this year is no different! I've got lots of tall milkweed/A. curassavica.
Sherry

Yea, it sounds like we're all seeing some activity now. Congrats, Sherry. She is a beauty.

Christie,

Hang in there, it sounds like they're beginning to move south.

You asked about where I grow my Swamp MW. The bed where my swamp milkweed is growing is actually on a very gentle slope. I did work in a lot of rotted compost prior to planting and I've watered deeply around the base of the plants about every other day during the unusually high temps this year (sad to say, considering the condition of my old back, I've had to do this for most of my plants). :-) Another thing I did was leave some of the 'Lady in Red' sage that self seeds to grow among the milkweed, just to provide a bit of shade and cooling for the roots. Once they've developed a good root system, I think they'll do just fine in our hot summers.

These are second year plants. Last year they were just a single stalk. This year they grew a strong stalk, then put out a wide canopy of growth at the top. Out of six plants, I only had one bloom. I'm hoping next year there will be more blooms.

As Bob said earlier, the swamp MW is an aphid magnet. I kept blasting the aphids off for the longest time, then didn't do it for a bit and wouldn't you know it, mama Monarch showed up and laid eggs (not that I'm complaining). Now I'm stuck with those little suckers as I don't want to blast her eggs! :-)

Please consider trying this MW again. The leaves are smaller than most milkweed, glossy, thin and very pliable, which will make them easy for the tiny cats to eat.

~Mary

Mary it sounds like you are going to busy for the next few weeks at least. They found a good home.
You have quite a collection of milkweed - good job. My milkweed, I believe it's called mexican milkweed is so scraggly but fortunately I have giant milkweed and that gets me through every season. I ordered some seeds on ebay for swamp milkweed and will use your propagation method for germination then I guess I will need to keep the roots damp for a while if and when it makes it to the yard.

Growing the red sage with the milkweed is such a good idea and sounds so pretty. You have a gift for mixing plants and colors.

Kathy

Beautiful photo Misssherry!
Thank you Mary. I do want to try swamp milkweed again. I have several cardinal flower seedlings potted up that would like similar conditions (lots of water). I keep saying I'm going to put in a bog garden but I know I would have to use a pickaxe or something and break up rock to be able to make it deep enough. Maybe I can at least find a low spot in my yard.

We are new butterfly-garden enthusiasts, and are just laying out our first garden. I was excited to find this post from NLR, because we live nearby in Bryant!
Can you point us in the right direction to find a place to gather or purchase living milkweed plants here in central AR? We have found sites that will ship seeds, but with us being novices I'm afraid we'll get some that won't do well here.
Thanks for any help you can give!
P.S. A butterfly highlight this week: We had found some very dramatic-looking caterpillars a week or two ago on some vines near our house. We moved them to the habitat and were delighted to see them form chrysalids. This week they emerged and we were able to identify them as Gulf Fritillaries. GORGEOUS! We are hooked!

Congrats on those gulf frits, Mamas4boys!

My Mama monarch is still out in the garden, nectaring almost continually on the milkweed flowers. She's started laying me some eggs -
{{gwi:528244}}

Sherry

Mamas4boys - Welcome! I will link a site below that I came across when I was looking for Ozarks natives. It's in Arkansas and on the description for asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) it says it's from a local source. I haven't looked at the other types of milkweed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pine Ridge Gardens online catalog

Beautiful photos Sherry.

mama, I have some pink swamp milkweed seed I just harvested this season. I'm in zone 7 also, so they should do fine. I winter sowed some tropical milkweed seed very easily and they are blooming now.

I'll gladly send you some. Others here sent me seed last year and this year. I want to 'pay it forward'.

I just need your address.

Betty

Congrats on the eggs MissSherry!

Lotsa people getting eggs these days. :)

Thanks so much for the link, Christie, and Betty, we are super excited about the seeds. You are so nice! I will send you an email with our address.
This is a delightful forum--I'm so glad I stumbled onto it. Looking forward to more monarch updates MissSherry! Beautiful photos.

Hi, Betty!
I PM'd you a couple weeks back using the email address with your profile (grandkidsflowers etc.), but I'm not sure you got it. . . .You can email me at michellebbaker \at\ gmail.com to let me know the correct address, if the offer still stands. Thank you so much!!
Hope you're all having a great day. We're still enjoying Gulf Frit caterpillars and chrysalids and butterflies. They love our yard! :)