I hear you and have tried to grow milkweed for this reason. My main issue with milkweed is that it is an aphid magnet. The plants I have grown are covered with aphids from top to bottom. It is truly gross and I always worry that they will spill over onto adjacent plants.

-Brett

Oh dear. Didn't know that.

Just blow the aphids off with water and/or import some ladybugs.
Min

I have tried growing several species of Milkweed for years including:
Asclepias curassavica - Tropical Milkweed
Asclepias fascicularis - Narrowleaf Milkweed
Asclepias speciosa - Showy Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Milkweed

But none of them have attracted any Monarchs to lay eggs - or get caterpillars. I do rarely see Monarchs in the Yard. No I don't use any pesticides etc.
The A. fascicularis is borderline invasive and does get a lot of yellow Aphids at times. A. speciosa is quite the thug as well, but is free of any Aphids etc.

The Curassavica is not a native to California and the butterflies larva do better on native species. Speciosa is the best. There is a relationship between the aphids and the butterflies. It makes the toxic effect in the larva better. The larva will eat it and it gives them protein and I don't worry about them. I also have narrowleaf and it has a short lifespan of just a few years.
Penny

The population of many butterflies, not just Monarchs, is dropping due to pesticide use and the tremendous loss of habitat.

We travel around Northern CA and our favorite place to visit is Sonoma Cty. On a trip two years ago we visited the Hallberg Butterfly Garden in Sebastopol CA (about 2 hrs north of San Francisco). Louise Hallberg turned her family property into a non-profit designated butterfly habitat.

Ms. Hallberg is a delightful lady who will be 98 yrs old this yr. She escorted us on our tour and told charming stories of growing up in the area when it was still all farmland.

There are different butterflies and skippers at different times of the year. If you are ever visiting the area and want to spend an hour doing something a little different than the usual wine/cheese/food activities, it's a lovely way to step back to a more rural time.

We ourselves raise passionflower vines because I love having Gulf Fritillary butterflies zooming around my garden from April through December!

Hallberg Butterfly Gardens
8687 Oak Grove Avenue, Sebastopol, CA 95472
(707) 823-3420

Here is a link that might be useful: Northern CA: Hallberg Butterfly Gardens

I love monarchs! They are eating all my milkweeds to the ground and I am trying to plant more! I currently have asclepias curassavica , asclepias fascicularis, asclepias physocarpa. I am trying to locate speciosa, tuberosa, giant milkweed but having a hard time. Anyone know where I can purchase these plants?

I have rue, fennel, parsley and lots of nectar plants for all kinds of butterflies. I don't mind the aphids because the lady bugs come and feed on them.

My kids and I collected a bunch of seeds from a field full of milkweed this fall.

We had two dozen black swallowtail caterpillars on the parsley and parsnip and oddly enough the rosemary this past summer. Hoping to add some more fun crawlers to garden this year.

We grow fennel just for the Anise Swallowtail butterflies. But oddly, I can't attract monarchs to our yard with the milkweed I've planted.

Lisa - I wouldn't give up. Some of the info published does say you have to put 6 to 10 milkweed plants close together to get the monarchs to notice (and it can take a few years for them to fly by and notice your milkweed patch). I have a dozen parsley planted to keep the swallowtails happy in my neck of the woods (and yes, they've found it :-) .

Good to know! Thanks Maggie.

My Wife an daughter raised a bunch last year.. My 10 year old was doing daily caterpillar counts into the hundreds

One issue that we have is that Wasps do not seem to be reading this forum and snack on the smaller caterpillars ..

Is anybody else having this issue. Wasp traps don't seem to work very well..

Any ideas appreciated

I have from three to five Monarchs at a time in my back yard, but I know nothing about feeding the caterpillars.

I guess I need the plant the parsley seeds I bought, but they grow too fast during the summer, and so I usually grow parsley in the winter.

Lars

oztambo - here's UC's info sheet on Wasps they have Master Gardeners hand out (you'll see the old baits pre 2000 are no longer available and the newer ones don't seem to work as well. They do instruct on homemade traps): http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7450.html I'm on a LOT of open land (Sierra Nevada Foothills) so I love paper wasps. They leave me alone (they really are not aggressive) and they "provide a great benefit by killing large numbers of plant-feeding insects and nuisance flies" - this includes aphids and other pests I get in my veggie garden. Didn't know young Monarchs were cannibals -Common Monarch Predators- turns out when they hatch and start eating leaves - they go right through other eggs. I have the birds spotted towhee - which is supposed to like monarch caterpillars and the scrub jays that go after butterflies - no wonder I haven't seen many monarchs (do have lots of Swallowtails and West Coast Ladies that manage to survive). Just putting in asclepias this year - so we'll see.

Meant to add, you can make screen cages to place over the plants caterpillars are feeding on - lift off as you have butterflies to release. Most folks raising them go out of their way to protect the eggs and caterpillars. If I find a pic - I'll share.

I live in South El Monte CA also and have several plants of these that usually have seed pods on them. Anyone wanting any just call 626 5794462 and i will give you my address to come by. I am usually home as i am retired.

Bill Kemp

Help, I need some advice. There are three monarch larvae on my young dill plants in my garden.

The weather is due to get cold in a couple of days. They won't be hatched and able to fly away by then.

What can I do to save them? Thanks. By the way, we have wild milkweed near our house but I've not seen any butterflies this year. Yet there are 3 larvae!

I'm just seeing this thread for the first time, and would appreciate advice on what I can plant to increase the number of Monarchs in my yard. I see a lot of butterflies because I've made it a point to plant tons of wildflowers and various other flowers that attract them, but I'd like to specifically attract more Monarchs. Is there anything I can plant now, as we head into [what passes for] winter? And what about in the spring?

Just FYI, I don't allow any pesticides on my property, and when it comes to critters that eat plants, well, I just let them! I figure if I can overlook the peafowl who like to chow down on certain plants, and dig up bulbs...just for the fun of it, and do all sorts of 'cute' things like that, some little insects aren't going to rile me! So it's a completely natural habitat.

blue_skink, you're in Canada? The California forum might not be the best place to ask for help with your butterfly issue. :) After all, most of us don't exactly experience the kind of winter weather you do!

http://www.monarchprogram.org/butterfly-gardening-and-rearing/

check out this link ilovegardening

Great link, syncal. Thanks!

@i love gardening. I know. I didn't realize where I was when I posted my comment or what I was doing. LOL. Thanks.

Lady Margaret passion vine. Other passion vines attract them also.

Carulea are good, but invasive. In the top pic you can see the pillar in the background.

"Lady Margaret passion vine." OH MY GOODNESS!! I love it. I'm going to look at some for my yard. I have a wooden fence along my driveway that this would look spectacular on, and a few other supported places in my yard where it would be equally amazing.

"Carulea are good, but invasive." I've just looked at some info for Passiflora caerulea, and I'm wondering--for both plants--are they easy to grow from seed? Or would I be better off buying plants?

Thanks for the suggestions, tim45z10!

I planted a Lady Margaret this year too. The flowers are stunning and there is perpetually a gulf fritillary or two fluttering around my porch where it's planted. The leaves look well chewed and I've seen several caterpillers on it.

I like to sit on my porch swing and watch them.

I have seen only one Monarch in the 18 years I have lived here. If I planted milkweed, I'm not sure it would attract any.

Lady Margaret will pollinate a ruby glow, which is also has an extraordinary

flower. Amazon has a variety.

I'm very proud of Governor Brown for some bills he signed into law yesterday, including one that should help with the Monarch butterfly issue in California: http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-sac-bill-signings-20151005-story.html

Great to hear a California politician finally did a good thing!

At the risk of turning this thread into a political brawl, I just want to add that I'm extremely proud of Gov Brown for signing into law the assisted-suicide bill today. Unlike many of its critics, I actually understand how it will/won't work, therefore I have no qualms about it. I know it's a good, compassionate thing that will allow people to decide for themselves when they've had enough physical suffering. It's high time, as far as I'm concerned.