Have baby monarch cats outdoors!

How exciting. That's beautiful!!

That's a pretty milkweed. I'm trying to grow incarnata and syriaca this year but I question if they will do alright here. They sure aren't germinating well, maybe I should have stuck them in the freezer instead of the refrigerator.

Found 2 cats on Friday and when I went out to look Saturday, the bigger one was no where to be found...but I had several more little ones happily enjoying the milkweed!

I read somewhere they can travel 30' to cocoon and I believe it. Of course i hate to think that something ate them is why I can't find them. I expect mine to wander off any day now.

Shauna, what kind of camera did you use?

Steadycam3, those pics are just from my cell phone.

Dee...you are growing Tweedia as well? do i remember correctly? I am curious to know if your Monarchs are ovipositing on it. I have just added Tweedia to my garden this year (grown from seed) but the plants are still very small. I will be interested to know if the Monarchs and Queens will use it? Have your Monarchs shown any interest?

Well, it's a little early to tell. I've only had Monarchs on one curassavica plant and I have several of them. The Tweedia is doing great though, even the ones in the ground did alright with the freeze we had. They are blooming like crazy and have had some bee-flys hanging out on them, strange insects. We have hummingbirds moths this year! I have lived here for 28 years and never seen them here before, only in baja. We are enjoying them so keep sending them this way, LOL. I'll post if the Tweedia draw any butterflies, they've been an interesting experiment. I'm trying Calotropsis gigantea this year. I haven't had any luck germinating some of the other milkweeds, incarnata and syriaca. I'll be happy if the Calotropsis keeps going, it's a perennial shrub.

I went out and counted and I am up to 12 cats demolishing the milkweed (which I don't mind, because that is why I have it). Found one this morning that had eaten almost a whole seed pod.

Can't find the link, but in a report I was reading about Monarchs and milkweed the writer found that when the cats moved off to find a place to become chrysallis they would chose switch grass (Panicum) when it was growing in with or within 2-3 feet of milkweed.

Do any of you cover your feeding cats plants?

I came across this the other day as quite similar to what I would like to do

http://www.mymonarchbutterflyministry.com/-/mymonarchbutterflyministry/article.asp?ID=4701

DHDee, I cannot get my syriaca seeds to germinate either! Not even one! Since late January I have refrigerated, frozen,soaked, heat matted, surface sown, scatter sown, winter sown, you name it and no dice! I have a ton of seeds but no sprouts! Tuberosa is easy. I need to get curasavica seeds. I have an incarnata that has finally started to come back this year, but no seeds due to no flowers last year. I did get several caterpillars last year within 2 weeks of planting the 1 yr old 1 gallon plant.
my dwarf joe pye is returning nicely also.

Scarletbean - If you want some curassavica that has been proven to sprout I can send you some. I have bags of them from my plants last year. Being I am in zone 9 I've decided to give up on syriaca, incarnata and even tuberosa and stick with the ones that grow good for me. Curassavica plants last 2 or 3 years here and physocarpa does well too. I'm having my daughter dig up some native milkweed roots today so I can move them into the butterfly garden where they won't be run over by the tractor regularly anymore.
My cat that is doing the trial on my enclosure has disappeared. Probably into the day lily patch at the center of the enclosure to cocoon. I have had 6 cats already this year that have gone off to become butterflies. I wish I was better at finding their cocoons. I wish the joe pye I planted was doing well.

Dee I read a plant trial maybe at MT Cuba Center on Milkweeds or Asters that mentioned that most of the Monarch cats observed during the year long study preferred to form into chrysalis on Switch Grass planted nearby (within 2-3 feet) of the Milkweed plants! I'm definitely doing this as Milkweed and switch grass gave grown up together for eons.

Also on the syriaca...Even though it is known as a spreader it is mainly via underground rhizome and not very much by dispursed seed. Where one takes, it eventually forms colonies which are clones of the first mama plant. So the common milkweed has put more into forming colonies and kept a hand in seed dispersal for genetic diversity. Milkweeds like to grow as groups not specimins and Monarchs and other species milkweed suppotrs (260+ ) have adapted to this and vise versa. This is why the loss of vast acerages of milkweed and other plants is so devastating well beyond the Monarch.

We don't have switch grass here. I have noticed them cocooning on my day lillies so I put several patches of them in the milkweed garden. We also have lots of native grasses and such out in the pasture which is where the milkweed garden its. I figure they'll do what they do. Being out in the country makes this easier as there are lots of native plants.

DHdee, YES! i would love some curassavica seeds. Dmail me and we can exchange info.
I finally got a syriaca seed to sprout! i had it sitting in water for over 2 weeks at least 50 seeds and only one sprouter.
Thank you Coleup for the explanation. I was starting to wonder. But I have to get the first one started to start the colony, Right? I have tried digging them up, but no success. I have a swampy area in my yard that will be great for it to grow.
Also, my incarnata has begun to show some shoots. I was worried it was a goner.