Monarch Sighting - N Little Rock AR

10 years ago

While standing outside watering, lo and behold, a healthy looking Monarch flew into my garden. It seemed to want to rest, staying a long time on a milkweed plant and then on a zinnia, just griping the leaf and being still. There are a lot of Pipevine Swallowtails flying about and they wouldn't leave it alone. It finally flew off between houses. I have some terrible looking milkweed and some nice fresh looking milkweed so I hope it returns. The aphids have all of a sudden taken over the in ground milkweed. I kept them cleaned up and thought maybe I'd go a summer without a full infestation but it seems that overnight, they're all over the A incarnate. Now I'll have to leave them be, in case the Monarch is a lady and she returns to lay eggs. Unless I saw her laying the eggs, I'd never spot them now.

Just wanted to let everyone know about the sighting. Doesn't it seem a tad early for the fall migration? Maybe this is one that never made it north? It looked healthy, not faded or tattered. I didn't want to disturb it by approaching so couldn't tell the sex.

Keeping my fingers crossed it is a little female and she gifts me some eggs.

On a sadder note, some of the little Spicebush cats are going to die. There simply isn't enough leaf left to feed them. I feel so badly and so sad. There are just a few leaves left on the little bushes and I'm sure they'll be gone by tomorrow morning. In hindsight, should I have destroyed some of the eggs before they hatched? It seems now like it would have been kinder than to allow them to grow and then starve.

Mary

Comments (5)

MissSherry
10 years ago
That's great about the monarch, but sad about the spicebush swallowtail, Mary!

Does sassafras grow around you? Spicebush swallowtails eat spicebush and sassafras leaves interchangeably, like they don't know the difference. Sassafras is what I find my eggs and cats on.

My little spicebush (the plant) that had been doing so good has partially died back. :( We've had our highest temps of the year lately, combined with suffocating humidity, but the plant is in shade and the soil didn't dry up, we've had plenty of rain. I thought the big rain we had day before yesterday would ensure that it'd stay green, but not the spicebush! :(

Sherry
Mary Leek
Original Author
10 years ago
Sherry,

I don't know whether we have sassafras anywhere nearby. I live in the city and while I know there are various types of native trees growing around town, I'd not be able to recognize Sassafras trees. When I was little, grandma would dig the roots and make winter tea from Sassafras, but I'd not know the plant on my own.

I am just sick over this but I don't know what I can do right now to help them. I'll call around to the local nurseries as soon as they open and see if anyone has this plant but it's doubtful. Not many native plants are offered locally.

I've just ordered 8 more spicebush plants and plan to take out a bed of Azaleas and plant them there. It is an understory bed and has auto sprinklers so it should be the perfect spot for them. I know it won't help the little guys that are out there now, but at least I'll be growing something helpful to the butterflies in that bed. I may have to use some of the new plants to replace those I have growing right now, as they are now just bare branches except for the tatters of nests. Poor little guys just barely covered with their bit of leaf nest that hasn't been eaten. Their little comical 'faces' poking out of the nest opening. It just breaks my heart.

Thank you for the suggestion. If I thought I could recognize a sassafras tree, I'd go looking.

Mary
Related Professionals
Garden City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · White Oak Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Allentown Landscape Contractors · Hannibal Landscape Contractors · Melrose Park Landscape Contractors · Oakland Landscape Contractors · Secaucus Landscape Contractors · Antioch Fence Contractors · Bellevue Fence Contractors · Newark Fence Contractors · Salt Lake City Fence Contractors · San Antonio Window Contractors · Norwalk Window Contractors · Trinity Window Contractors · Troy Window Contractors
MissSherry
10 years ago
Mary, sassafras is among the easiest of trees/bushes to identify. It has three types of leaves, one entire, one with a 'thumb' looking like a mitten, and one with three lobes.

It grows in woodland edges and fence rows, easy to find here, probably easy to find in Arkansas.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Sassafras
butterflymomok
10 years ago
Mary, if you have any nature parks around you, there is likely to be sassafras growing. It's an understory tree. One year I had to go out and replenish leaves for the Spicebush Swallowtails for several weeks. One thing I've observed is that they can eat slower and longer than a lot of swallowtails, so you may have some time to get the new plants in and feed them. I had a bunch this year that took over a month to feed and pupate. They are eclosing just fine. I released a male and a female yesterday. Dogwooderitternet on ebay usually has spicebush starts. Is that where you are getting yours? If so, you will have some leaves. Good Luck!!
bandjzmom
10 years ago
Oh gosh Mary, I know just what you are going through with the little Spicebush cats. The same thing happened to me a couple of years back. I had too many cats and not enough food. I did take them out and put them onto some Sassafras in the wild. I bought my Spicebush plants from
Dogwooderitternet on ebay back in 2009 I think. It took awhile for me to find a spot that they liked (it turned out to be morning sun only), but this year, I finally have some sizable bushes that would support quite a few cats to pupation. Good news on the Monarch! If you see it again, get out the binoculars if you don't want to approach it. They are so easy to sex. Good luck!
Angie