That sure looks like one Sharon! The viceroy's have that one black horizonal line at the bottom of their wings, and yours doesn't have that, so it must be a monarch. Is this the first one you've seen or have been able to take a picture of? Btw, great pictures! Around Brandon, they've sure seemed to have multiplied this year. Even driving on the highway, I've almost hit a few. Just this evening I was by the little leaf lilac and counted 5 monarchs, 2 swallowtails and a couple of hummingbird moths feeding. Talk about a lot of activity, but it was just beautiful to watch.:0)

Oh happy day! Yes, Laurie, it's the first Monarch I have ever seen in my entire life. Even living in Saskatoon, I never seen one there in my garden.

Thanks so much!

Sharon

Oh, congratulations then Sharon! I hope it sticks around your place for a long time and make sure you check out your milkweed for the caterpillars too. I saw two mating yesterday, so I wonder how long before the caterpillars show up?;^)

Thanks Laurie, yes, I hope so too, I don't see another one flying around, I hope he or she gets a mate soon and sticks around. I will look out for the caterpillars very closely ;)

Sharon

It was a bad day for my Monarch. I went into the greenhouse to fetch some pruners and I heard fluttering on the side panels, here it was her panicking to get out. Took me awhile but I did managed to scoop her up with my palms and gently carried her out to fly away. She must be so exhausted from that ordeal this afternoon. Hope sheÂs ok and just hiding out for awhile.

Poor thing...

Sharon

Oh, that's too bad. Maybe that wasn't the same one? There could be more hiding your yard.

Great photos Sharon and congrats on seeing your first monarch butterfly..savona

Thanks Savona, I feel very honoured having one in my garden. Yes Laurie, thatÂs all IÂve seen so far.....today its cool and wet, I really hope this one doesnÂt take off. I was reading that Monarchs will only migrate where Milkweed/Butterfly is growing. That is amazing that they can detect where those particular plants are located.

They are amazing indeed!

Do you get them in your garden Savona?

Sharon

I saw the Monarch for about 5 minutes today, still only seeing one at a time if its the same one.

I also took a photo of this butterfly today. THese guys are easy to take photos of, at least they sit for a minute to take their photo.

Sharon

Oh wow, Sharon, I am soooooo jealous!!! I also have never seen a real life Monarch before. Maybe they'll head just a few more hours northwest?

Is my mind actually remembering something or am I imagining it? (Still not quite up to snuff. Bear with me.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't someone last year post pictures with the Monarchs feeding on slices of fruit?

Shauna

Very nice shots, Sharon!
Thanks for sharing this with us,....so we know, where these beauties are hanging out.
Not sure if Monarch's ever hit the Edmonton region?
Konrad

I'm surprised there are few Monarchs in AB - there are so many here! Wonder what the difference is?

Sharon, beautiful butterfly pics, you even got pretty colour coordinated flowers with them! ;0)

Ahhh thanks everybody!

I'm not sure why theyÂre not that many Monarch's in Central/Northern Alberta. Even the Insects of Alberta website doesnÂt feature them. I didn't see any in Saskatoon when I lived there too.

I noticed tiny little eggs under the leaves of the Milkweed today, canÂt wait to see the larvae now. Every year I'm going to wintersow more and more Milkweeds for them. I'll plant a whole acre for them if I have to. LOL

Shauna, I don't recall the Monarch/ slice fruit post....although I do remember Pudges Orioles enjoying her oranges post last year. Btw, I have a couple male and female Orioles in my garden too but I can never get a good photo of them.

Yes Gil, exactly, how did you know that I coordinate my flower colours for my butterflies, you clever girl you. ;)

Sharon

Laurie, I saw your cat in the other thread, my babies are not nearly the size of yours yet. There are many of them feeding on the milkweeds, I hope I have enough food for them ;)

Sharon

Sharon, the caterpillar I posted was probably only a little bigger than than yours. The camera lens was almost touching it, it was so close! I forgot to deadhead the milkweed last summer, and now I've got quite a few tiny babies in the veggie garden, and I've seen some caterpillars on these little seedlings and I know that the plant won't grow fast enough to accomodate their appetites. So I ended up moving them to the larger plants to feed. I've only seen one monarch flying around the other day, so I guess now I have to wait for the next batch to come along.:0)

So from the looks of it, you did have more than one monarch in your yard didn't you?;^) And now you'll have some more later on too.

I hope so, I want lots of Monarchs next year. I'm going to wintersow a couple of flats of Milkweed for them next year. LOL

How many eggs on average does a female lay?

They are so tiny and soooo cute. I was watching them for about an hour today.

Sharon

I googled Monarch eggs, and a female can lay on average 700 eggs in her life time. So I'm sure you'll be seeing a few more down the road!

I don't know if you want to even bother to winer sow the milkweed.....just let the mature plant seed out. You'll have more milkweed than you know what to do with!lol

I'm going to wintersow because I want to have them in a different parts of the garden. I will let some self seed too.

Do any of you grow ASCLEPIAS tuberosa? For the life of me, I can't get this species to germinate. So far I have the white and pink A. incarnata in my garden. I would really love the orange Milkweed in my garden too.

You know why you guys see so many Monarchs in Manitoba, that's because Asclepias incarnata is a native to Manitoba ;)

Sharon

I figured that must be a factor Sharon - that you don't have wild milkweed like we do. There is a lot of wild milkweed around here. That's great that you have some growing and got caterpillars already tho! :0)

I took a nice pic of a swallowtail last week... do you suppose I can find it now? No.

Last night my DH and I went for a walk and along the edge of the road was a white flowered plant. I knew that we had lots and lots of monarch butterflies on the lilacs here this spring but had no idea what the milkweed that the caterpillars need looked like.

Well, here are some pictures I took this morning. This is what the ditch looks like. Lots of little 12" plants with white flowers on them...a wild milkweed.

Flowers close up...

Close up of plant with monarch caterpillar...

lots of caterpillars...so colorful!!!

A highlight of my day!!!

Brenda

Awww they're so cute and chubby! :0) I hope you gave that last one a talking to about eating the flowers... it should leave the flowers to make more milkweeds.

Chubby for sure, they look like they should join Jenny Craig ;)

My little guys are getting bigger and bigger every day too, they sure do munch all day long!

Brenda do you know the species name of your Milkweed growing in the ditch?

Sharon

This site has a picture of the Dwarf or Oval Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias ovalifolia) and some interesting facts on the Monarch and on the milkweed plant.

http://www.naturenorth.com/summer/monarch/monarchF.html

That is the type I have growing in the ditches around here.

Brenda

This is absolutely wonderful!

Sharon, this is great news!

Thanks Brenda for sharing this with us!.....wonderful pictures!

I was talking to a lady in Edmonton a couple of weeks ago, she said, she had Monarch's some years ago.
Can somebody else confirm this.
I have put in a milkweed plant in exchange for honey, [from a inspiring gardener here in Beaumont] but I think the transplant was too late, flowers already formed and so far it's not looking good.
Konrad

Update on my Monarch's - I don't see any new babies around?

I did see many Red Admiral's in the garden today, I had a wonderful shot of one sitting on a Purple Coneflower and wouldn't you know it, the camera battery went dead! I'll see if I can get a photo tomorrow ;)

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Admiral

OH...shoot!...that's too bad! Hopefully there will be another time!

Did you see any caterpillar go pupate?
I'm pretty sure, one can expect some mortality rate, I was reading... sometimes antes, wasp or spiders.
But I was wondering about birds, some birds do eat butterflies and can tolerate the toxin, perhaps some
birds do eat caterpillars too.
You know what that means Sharon,.. we have to plant ALLOT of Milkweed! LOL
Konrad

No, I never saw the pupa/chrysalis stage.

I'm thinking right after that July heat wave followed by the sudden cold in August made them stay inside the pupa until the weather is nice, maybe they'll surprise me yet.

Most birds will avoid Monarch, one bite and they will remember for next time. But yes, I've read that wasps and spiders will eat the larva, I have alot of those in the garden, so it could be.

You bet, I'm going to plant tons of seed for next year if thats what it takes ;)

(still haven't managed to get a photo of the Red Admiral thou! LOL)

Sharon