I've been seeing them in just very small numbers for weeks. But this past week there's much more and they're stopping by to lay eggs on the milkweeds they find. The Monarch population dropped dangerously low last year. Hopefully, they're coming back and will recover to a better population size!
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
What is great is that these butterflies actually might have enough nectar and host plants this year in Texas! Last year was just so sad!
P. S. the itty bitty Monarch caterpillars are so cute!
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
I haven't seen many butterflies around my house yet. I saw some Monarchs back around the first week of february along the coast. I saw quite a few Black Swallowtail in the Big Thicket a couple of weeks ago.
Cool-looking butterfly! None of the swallowtails have come here yet except for the Pipevine Swallowtail.
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
My milk weed plants have been leafless for the past few months. About the time they get new leaves, I see a new batch of caterpillars. My two little passion vine plants have also been eaten to the stems here in Houston.
That's truly a problem with these Monarch caterpillars! We don't usually get wave after wave of them here. I didn't raise that many this spring, so keeping up with the amount of milkweed foliage they used up wasn't a big problem. I do remember years I had enough in fall that I had to go look for roadside milkweed to keep them fed, however. Here's one Monarch I released recently.
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
I wonder if that Monarch was one of the butterflies I released! Saw one of them in my yard today. The Queen butterflies showed up today, so yay!
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. E. B.White
Integrity can never be taken. It can only be given, and I wasn't going to give it up to these people. Gary Mowad
Name: Christine North East Texas (Zone 7b) Shine Your Light!
I saw a couple of monarchs recently but, not like I've seen others ~ there are A-lot of butterflies around here!!!!
I just ran arcross this butterfly site that's very nice - I couldn't believe I haven't seen it before today!!:
"Blooming butterflies" in Texas ~ http://aggie-horticulture.tamu...
May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day --Native American Proverb
Sandi, you need to pick up some tomatillo plants. Apparently nothing likes to munch on them (while the army and cutworms were chowing down on my peppers and tomatoes, the tomatillos are practically untouched) but the mason bees LOVE them. I don't mind, because they're also pollinating the other veggies while they're around! :D