MIGRATION ON! Plant it and They Will Come part 5

Quite a journey thus far:
Part 1 Ordering Milkweed, Host and Nectar Plants
Part 2 Waystations and Pollinator activity
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1355035/
Part 3 Waystations cont
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1367451/
Part 4 Life cycles and Raising the Migration
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1371944/

Now to see whether our efforts and those of countless others from Mexico to Canada have aided the Monarchs and other pollinators we all depend on to increase their numbers as they journey over the next weeks to overwinter, our nectarful gardens sustaining their flights as we plan to plant more for their return!

National Weather Service: Migrating Monarchs show up on radar
http://www.citylab.com/weather/2014/09/a-strange-cloud-over-st-louis-turns-out-to-be-an-enormous-swarm-of-butterflies/380614/

fascinating and good news

We were mesmerized by the eclosing process.

Amazing how they swarm!!

Jan, did you get to see Catmint's video of her fat cats becoming that lovely green chrysalis?
Here is the link
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9934588

Pretty far out for the National Weather Service to describe the shape of the mysterious radar cloud as the shape of a butterfly! For me, chills, tears and smiles all at once! As Catmint says, these are no ordinary butterflies!

First swarms reported in Cape May NJ last Thurs.

Via con Dios mariposa!

I'm going on a short trip to Utah, so I took my tent full of chrysalises to a neighbor who has raised Monarch butterflies before and who has 3 girls who were very excited about getting to watch them turn into butterflies. The youngest girl had just finished learning about Monarchs in school.

While I'm in Utah, I'll collect some seeds from "weeds" like these that grow all over the place. All of these are fall-bloomers; the last 2 are a wild Geranium that was blooming in late August.

My caterpillar in a jar has eaten almost two whole leaves since yesterday morning and now is clinging to the paper towel over the mouth of the jar. Will I find a chrysalis in the morning?

Maybe! Some of mine took 2 days to turn to chrysalises after they started hanging from the top of the tent.

NYTimes articles about the dwindling population of bees:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/us/the-head-scratching-case-of-the-vanishing-bees.html?_r=0

edit: It looks like weblinks are still broken.


This message was edited Sep 30, 2014 1:48 PM

Two butterflies eclosed today...photos to follow!

This message was edited Sep 30, 2014 7:27 PM

ssg, your link worked for me

It worked for me too. I actually haven't had any problems opening links.

Newly-eclosed Monarchs hanging out in their tent...to be released tomorrow morning.

Free at last!
The 6th butterfly emerged right after I released these 3, and the neighbors and I got to watch as it did. I released it tonight, so my rearing cage is empty until next year.

Congrats!

We (or rather the butterfly) had great timing! I was taking the cage inside, and the kids were waiting for their school bus, when I noticed that the chrysalis was splitting.

Is there a special late pass for watching butterflies emerge? lol

Keeping an eye on my guy. Everyone wants to know why they have gold dots on the chrysalis.

Wanted to re-post my last post as the Thread got moved over.
Just so you could see the pictures again. Yeah! i am so glad I got those!

***************************************************************************

There was a Monarch hanging around my Tropical Butterfly Weed today.
Not that this is the first time--but I grabbed mu camera and put it on macro
and stood there--only a couple feet away and waited...

It came and went...and came again. Took a lot of shots trying to catch it with
wings fully open. But--as it fed--the wings remained closed.
Got a couple half way open-as it was about to take off. And then--finally--
a fully open, wings spread Monarch. Can't see the blooms--it is covering them.
I was, literally, inches away. Glad she did not mind too much.

Gita

YEAH!!! A great way to start my October Folder. Gita

Those are great photos Gita!

I was procrastinating about cleaning my rearing cage so I could put it away, and to my great surprise I found a very large Black Swallowtail caterpillar on my dill today! I did a quick cleaning job and put it in with plenty of dill. I think it's about to become a chrysalis.

I saw one on my Parsley yesterday....almost full sized.
Kind of surprised--this late in the year! G.

Elsa the library monarch eclosed yesterday at the library to the delight of my co workers . We did not actually witness but did note she turned black and later we saw the orange. Next look she was out and all spread. I brought her home snd released her in my grden this morning. Good timing Elsa.

I like that name!
My Black Swallowtail caterpillar is still alternating between eating and sleeping. I hope he makes it!

Congratulations to Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy for exceeding their goal of raising and releasing 22014 Monatchs this summer. As of Oct 9 they had 2236! That is almost 2,200 more adults to breed and migrate than if the good citizens of Loudoun had not planted milkweed, set up Monarch Waystations at homes, businesses, schools and parks, and volunteered to hand raise those eggs and cats they found. ( 1- 2 % in the wild survive to adulthood)
http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Monarch_Campaign_Raise_Release_Map.html

Looks like many of the Loudoun releases will follow the Appalachian ridges with their thermal updrafts, down south and then across to Texas and on to Mexico. Check out the animated migration maps to see where those you have released will be most likely along their way.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/fall2014/update100914.html

Many of the Monarchs from Canada and the Northeast follow a coast hugging route that takes them thru Cape May, NJ where they are logged and tagged. Check the latest reports from Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project here
http://capemaymonarchs.blogspot.com/

Since my last cat of this season won't eclose until another week or so I thought I would add this :about a Monarch tagged in Cape May NJ on Oct 12 who made it to Georgia in three days, a distance of over 500 miles!
Too Late to Migrate?
Tagging returns show a monarch can fly 500 miles in 3 days when the wind is from the north. This fact can calm the fears of people in the north worried about late migrating monarchs.

"When is the last date we should be releasing monarchs into the wild?" asked 1st and 2nd graders in South Hero, Vermont.

Watch for a sunny day and a north wind. Release the monarch at mid-day when temperatures are warm enough for flight (55°F if cloudy; 50°F if sunny).
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/fall2014/c100914_late.html

Today's rain here will see them hunkered down til sun returns. Think I will do the same. More later. j

That's great news! I hope the 6 I released have joined a migrating group.

I have a Black Swallowtail chrysalis, and have read that it should be put outside in a protected area during the winter so that it doesn't emerge until spring. I hope the caterpillar did whatever it needed to do in order to prepare for hibernation. Now I regret bringing the caterpillar inside! I put the rearing cage with chrysalis outside while I figure out what to do.

thanks for the update, coleup.
Fingers crossed, Muddy!

I found a monarch during my frost-damage check this morning. It was sitting very still on daylily leaves, sunning itself. It didn't seem to be damaged in any way, but I was very surprised to see it in the cold. I don't have much blooming right now... just some native asters, Russian sage, and surprisingly enough, May Night salvias and Cheyenne Spirit coneflowers. Oh, and the pink NOID brug from Gita is full of blooms now. Go figure!

SS-
Brugs always have the best, greatest bloom flush in October around here.
It is worth waiting for it.
What do you do with your brugs for the winter?

After this bloom flush--chop away and root the cuttings, if you want to.
Stay above the "Y" taking cuttings and do not use the soft, new growth ones.
Go with a sturdy, woody piece (you can even root the trunk!).
Trim pieces to about 5"-6",making sure you have 'eyes" on top as well as bottom,
and sink it ,all the way to the bottom, in a 5" deep pot. Rooting hormone helps.

Keep just moist until leaves appear. Give good light and you will be on your way.

I cut mine back to a skeleton as I have to take mine in my dark, cool basement for the winter.
They are still in their pots. I put a grocery bag around the pots.
Once in a blue moon--I give the pots a cup of water. That's it!

Here is some Brug cuttings just taken in January. The stem-ends need not be left on.

SSG you most likely have a migrator! Monarchs can't fly unless their body temp is around 60 degrees so sunnying is the warm up drill. May have spent the nite there or in a tree (they like spruce/cedar evergreen types and may have been blown down by considerable wind yesterday.

Your late blooming asters are the most likely nectar source if it is hungry bat also slvia and Cheyenne Spirit sources, too.

Glad to hear no sign of damage so it probably eclosed within the past week! If temps stay lowish and wind directions not favorable it may stick around to nectar for a day or two like those coming to Cape May do.

http://capemaymonarchs.blogspot.com/

It would be really great to report your sighting to Monarch Watch Journey North or the Monarch Monitoring Project! It is easy to do!

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Gallery.html

Thanks for the info, coleup!

I'm actually not fond of these particular asters -- they're so very tall (as tall as my crape myrtle!) and flop over, even though I shear them by half in June. But I'm glad they're serving their purpose! :)

Gita, once it's done blooming, I'm going to cut it back, keep it in its pot and bring the whole down to the basement for the winter.

Good! That is what i do---just try not to cut below the "Y".
It will delay the blooming--as it will have to "Y" all over again.

G,

SSG, as important as it is to plant Milkweed for the Monarchs in our area it is equally important to make available in our yards, roadsides and public/private spaces Fall Blooming Nectar Plants for those who will migrate through our area so they can store up fat reserves for the migration and to see them thru the overwintering in Mexico.

They actually gain weight as they migrate! At least they did until fall nectar sources became as few and far between as larval host Milkweed for many of the same reasons. As rude an awakening as it was to me last fall with 18 very hungry Monarch cats that had run out of their milkweed source that there was not "milkweed everywhere" I was shocked when local bee keepers began to tell me that in the last ten years they have had to begin supplemental feeding of their hives because fall nectar sources, once abundant, were simply no longer out there for the bees!

Little wonder our pollinators are in trouble.

I'll be posting on some late fall bloomers shortly, but there is one you might check out and enjoy: Aster 'Snow Flurry' blooming now, stays low (4-6") and spreads out horizontally to 18 inches or so. I think it could make a great ground cover under shrubs and over bulbs! White flowers, shade OK and drought tolerant, tending to stay semi evergreen! Also could be the 'spiller' in containers.

http://www.mtcubacenter.org/plant-finder/details/symphyotrichum-ericoides-var.-prostratum-snow-flurry/

Oh I almost forgot, Aster 'Lady in Black' is also in full bloom! The ones is full sun are looking just beautiful. Very impressive rate of growth in just one year, and they should be even fuller next year.

Chrysanthemum pacificum should be in full bloom any day now. It's not a native, and I'm not too happy with its sprawling habit, but it's a great late bloomer. I remember visiting critter's garden late last year, and hers was absolutely buzzing with pollinators.

Garden Club meeting today had a great speaker on Pollinators mostly butterflies and moths.

Have to add that the aster 'snow flurry' is a cutie!!!

Coleup, my son said that the monarch enclosed early Sunday morning before they got up, but still were able to see it pump up its wings. When they opened the container later on after it warmed up it flew away. They were thrilled to experience it. Thank you

I'm glad to hear it's not too late for butterflies to eclose, just in case my Black Swallowtail decides not to hibernate until spring.

Still blooming in my yard: Montauk Daisies, Salvia 'Black and Blue', Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer', Solidago caesia, Zinnias, Mistflower, Nasturtiums, Geranium 'Rozanne', Purple Coneflower, Butterfly bushes, 1 Penstemon 'Lucketts', a volunteer Joe Pye Weed seedling, and the NOID Aster in this photo.

Bees are the only creatures enjoying the blooms, though....well, besides me.

Muddy, I'm very surprised your purple coneflowers are still blooming! Did you deadhead them? Mine stopped blooming probably a month ago, and only Cheyenne Spirit is left.

I forgot about the annuals! My zinnias and begonias are still in bloom. Zinnias are definitely a butterfly favorite.

I thought all penstemons were spring bloomers. Is 'Lucketts' supposed to be a fall bloomer, or is it just reblooming for you?

Today I learned that the Zinnia variety Profusion has no nectar to feed the butterflies. So stay away from those varieties when planting for Butterflies.

Yes, I did deadhead the purple coneflowers after letting the finches feast on them for awhile, mostly because I wanted to make sure I could collect some seeds. I think one of my NOID sunflowers is still blooming too.

The penstemon is amazing! It has been blooming non-stop since the Spring plant swap. Penstemon 'Lucketts' is a name Greenthumb gave to his NOID Penstemons. I'll try to get a photo of it.

Thanks for the heads-up, Holly.

Here are a couple of photos of what I call Penstemon 'Lucketts', though I can't explain why what I gave to Muddy has kept blooming.