That is sad and does not sound good. However it is possible you just did not spy them. They do cruise around the area and from plant to plant. I have about 100 plants spread over a half acre area in Chicago and have managed to see four so far but at least two have perished from the Black Death.

And, also unfortunately, this subforum doesn't seem to have much more activity than your milkweed.

Thanks for your reply. Actually, pretty much everyday I walk the garden and check the leaves for feeding damage, however, as of today none of the milkweed are showing feeding damage. 2012 was a great year for Monarchs in my garden, I had tons of caterpillars.

I am wondering if the very cold winter has slowed down the return of the monarchs?

I've had a lot of butterflies and bees in my garden but no monarchs that I've seen yet. I did see a lot more in the fall last year than I did in the summer. I sure hope we see some this year.