Thanks so much for this information, needtoseegreen. "The three species you mentioned", is that the newsletter you're quoting? I have been concerned about planting non native milkweed so I'm very glad for this post. I grow the milkweed that is native to where I live in So. Cal., if was growing in the yard for decades and I didn't know what it was until 2 years ago. Luckily the roots survived my weedings. It makes sense not to fool around with mother nature and grow non native milkweed. I'm not surprised with the findings you listed from the newsletter. I have read about the toxicity of the "milk" varying and that So. Cal Monarchs aren't used to the toxicity level of tropical or other non native MW's, but I have no opinion because I don't know for sure. I would trust what Monarch Watch says on it. The Monarchs that visited my yard last year when I tried a small plant of tropical in addition to the native (A. fascicularis) didn't lay eggs on the tropical. The tropical didn't do well in my heavy clay soil either. Could you please forward the newsletter to me? I'd be very interested. Do you think they would mind if you mentioned them here? I don't recommend using anything but water on the milkweed, because even a tiny amount of bleach in water will kill the caterpillars on contact. I found this out in my cat raising indoors for the first time starting a few weeks ago. The newly hatched Monarch cats are way too small for anyone to notice, they are extremely small and are hidden under leaves, or can be embedded in the tender growth at the top of the stem. Insecticidal soap would kill them and leave a toxic residue (to them). I recommend crushing the aphids, and wearing latex gloves, they stain the skin. Hosing them off would be hard on the new cats and would likely wash them off too. May I ask what MW species you grow? since you're in the same growing zone and area as myself. Any way to find out if the other species you listed (other than A. fascicularis) are native to the L.A. area? Any So. Calif. milkweed and Monarch breeders who read this, could you share what species of native MW you grow? I am battling black mildew on my A. fascicularis leaves, and pulling off the affected leaves daily. It's a huge task. I need to keep a clean food supply for all the tiny cats I have brought in. Today I picked about 5 stem tops and found 4 more tiny cats, and the nights are getting too cold for them. Just the problem that the newsletter addressed; tiny cats hatching in weather that is too cold due to abnormal breeding spans encouraged by the non native MW species. (I get the impression that tropical MW to a Monarch is like catnip to a cat) Sadly all the nurseries, even Home Depot carry these non-native MW's, and I think they have helped create the OE problem. The cats I raised last December-January all emerged as OE infected butterflies. The reason for this (according to what I've read) is because since the plants have been visited all season by butterflies, all that "foot traffic" has raised the probability of contamination of the plants and egg by the microscopic OE spores. The unnaturally long breeding season puts Monarchs in a perilous position not just weather wise, but disease wise. Sorry this got too lengthy. This fall I'm dipping the milkweed used for feeding (clear of eggs or tiny cats), in water with a few drops of bleach for 10 seconds, and rinse it well. The 2 Monarchs I released today had questionable looking thoraxes (possibly OE infected), I was torn about releasing them. They were not raised entirely indoors. I need to get an inexpensive lighted microscope to check for OE, any suggestions where to get one, anyone? Thanks. It didn't work for me to raise the eggs on the narrow leaves, the larvae all got black death or NPV (or?) at various stages. Now it's the cut MW in water, tons of work and I can't disinfect the MW that have eggs on them. I'm worn out! It's a full time job. Feels like changing baby's diapers all day long. :)

We used PA Bluestone in irregular shapes for our porch floor so I can speak with experience here. I went to a stone supplier in Central NJ (Stone Center of Bridgewater...wonderful place by the way). I picked out my bluestone (irregular PA Bluestone). I needed approximately 350 sq. feet. This turned out to be approximately 5300 lbs. The cost per lb. was 0.13/lb for the 3/4"-1 1/2" thickness. There is a larger thickness as well, but it would have been too thick for my porch depth. I also added some lilac blue stone to the mix, at 0.18/lb. for some color variation. What I can say is that installation is VERY labor intenstive. These pieces of bluestone are large, heavy, and leveling and filling with mortar seems to take a LONG time. We bordered it with limestone around the perimeter to match our limestone treads on our steps. Pricing was approximately It was quite reasonable here in Central NJ. We considered stamped concrete for this and for our back patio. I do not like it. It looks artificial to me and very plasticy (if that's a word). Here's a picture of it and the front of the house.

Thanks so much! I looked them up and I agree. So, they are probably naturalized from old garden plantings, along with everything else. The population of the area was 10 times greater in 1860 than it is now, because of the Gold Rush. So fun to find heritage flowers growing wild! Jackie

Thanks for sharing this BP. I have been looking into a way to replace my tired, worn out, and crappy looking KBG with something much more suited to our climate. It seems work surrounding the native grass lawns focuses on buffalo and blue grama. Fine grasses (I use a lot of blue grama in my landscaping) but I have always thought that there had to be others. This whole area, as you said, was prairie with a seemingly endless array of choices. The first one the came to mind was western wheat, which grows extensively across the Front Range. The reason it came to mind is because it is a sod forming grass. But it's also very tall and coarse, regular mowing may help make it more "flat," but I have trouble imagining walking across a lawn of western wheat barefoot. Recently we seeded a lot of Canada rye at work, so I started looking into that, too. It's a bunchgrass though, and I'm unsure if consistent mowing forces tillering like it does with blue grama. It's also extremely tall and coarse. The absentee neighbor's lawn has been taken over by smooth brome. It looks gorgeous right now, but when it gets cut, its very "stemmy" rather than leafy. I am also not a huge fan of the fact smooth brome has overtaken most of what's left of the native xeric tallgrass prairie that we have here, forcing out the community of big and little bluestem, switch and Indian grass and turning it into a monoculture. USDA calls Indian grass a "rhizomatus bunchgrass" so mowing might encourage tillering with that. but once again, my main concern is the coarseness and that cutting taller grasses will lead to "stemminess", although, if done regularly, it might not. It's also warm-season however. Another thing is that some grasses don't respond as well to cutting as others. For example, not that it would otherwise make a good turfgrass, but you could not repeatedly mow down little bluestem through the growing season without killing it. I will be looking into the fesuces that you mentioned, they sound promising. Do you know how all these stand up to traffic?