Welcome to the Humane Gardener Monarch-y, where every day this week we’ve hosted royal visitors.
Mine, All Mine!
To clear up any confusion about why common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is taking over our front yard, I posted a sign after registering our property as a Monarch Waystation. It was like an instant welcome mat for this male, who reigned over our little patch of earth yesterday. His gender is identifiable by the black dots on his hindwings.
What’s for Dinner?
Just in time for the king’s banquet, the liatris began blooming. Later in the season, the monarchs will visit other nectar favorites: the asters budding in the background, the ironweed and Joe Pye weed in the meadow behind our house, and the boneset and goldenrod I’ve let seed throughout the gardens. Nectar-producing flowers that bloom in succession ensure a continuous supply of food for many creatures who stop by our habitat.
Can’t You Beetles Read the Sign?
As adults, monarchs feed from a variety of flowers, but while in bloom, common milkweed is by far their favorite in our yard (even though they are often forced to share). Since milkweed species are the only plants they can eat as caterpillars, a patch of its flowers must feel to a monarch like the front porch lights of his ancestral home.
Hey! You! Get Off of My Flower!
A line has already been forming at the echinacea, too, even though it’s just beginning to bloom. This bee didn’t mind a little company from the glam squad, though.
Some Privacy, Please?
On Wednesday I followed this little one as she rested on a thistle, a potted rubber plant, some milkweed, and some black-eyed Susans. I’m not sure what she was up to here as she dallied on this sassafras leaf, but she seemed to be basking after a rain (or possibly after just emerging into the world).
Seriously? We’re Trying to Make Babies Here.
Today another royal appeared to be ovipositing on this swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) by the back patio. Monarchs like to lay their eggs on newer leaves, and planting more than one native milkweed species can help round out the nursery at different times of the season. To keep things fresh for late-summer breeding, gardeners can also cut back tattered milkweed to encourage the growth of new leaves. Just be sure to check for eggs before pruning. (Training videos from the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project can help you learn how to identify monarchs at different stages of their life cycle.)
A Log Moat Around the Butterfly Palace
Thanks to my husband, Will, our little Monarch-y is protected from county mowers by logs gathered from neighbors. Will helps me lay out the milkweed carpet for everyone who flocks to these plants—not just monarchs but skippers, bees, fritillaries, milkweed beetles, moths, spiders and many other members of the royal brigade.
I’m very frustrated w/ the mowing of roadsides and ditches by town and county. Where did you get the sign in your photo of the common milkweed? Don’t the county workers complain when you put logs in their path?
Is there a Nat’l group that works on this issue such as statistics of habitat/species lost when mowed?Any states that have been successful at stopping this?
Hi Melanie, I got the sign from MonarchWatch; there’s a link in the blog, but I’ll paste it in here, too: http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/
I know exactly what you mean. It frustrates me to no end. The county workers here are respectful of our milkweed patch. I saw them once spraying/mowing something across the street from us, and that’s when I realized I needed to make sure they knew this was a desirable part of my garden they weren’t allowed to touch. However, I have seen milkweed patches in surrounding counties that were healthy and thriving one week and then mowed down the next. Also, so many of the other native plants that have been marginalized from our homes and corporate landscapes thrive in the no-man’s land of roadside ditches, but not when they’re poisoned.
Whether or not a national group has quantified species/habitat loss is a good question; even though overall milkweed loss from agricultural practices has been quantified in different ways, I haven’t seen anything related to general local government carelessness. It’s something I definitely want to work on here in my area because, in spite of the national push and increased awareness, many landscapers still don’t even seem to know what milkweed is or why it’s important.
Here are a few interesting mentions of this. It seems to me that the Midwest, especially Minnesota, leads the way on rethinking these practices:
http://www.monarchjointventure.org/threats/breeding-habitat-loss/
http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/06/04/roadsides-are-important-habitat-for-pollinators-and-pheasants-2/
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/bmps/~/media/Files/news/govrelations/pollinators/legrpt-pollinators14.pdf
Are you familiar with Wild Ones? They are active in the Midwest and work on issues like this, though, again, I’m not sure anyone’s quantified the loss/potential. I’ll let you know what else I find out as I continue to research it, and if you could let me know as well, that would be great. It’s sad that Rachel Carson talked about the harm of roadside mowing and spraying so many decades ago and launched a whole movement because of it, yet we still have the same problems.
Great blog posting, Nancy. I’ve been really happy to see more monarchs this year than in recent years–mostly on the milkweed which I’m letting grow in my veggie garden and where ever else it wants to grow. I didn’t know the male monarchs had black dots on their hind wings. Going in for a closer look next one I see! Many thanks.
Thanks, Melinda! Yes, and the female monarchs are a little smaller — something I hadn’t really been able to discern, but now that I’ve looked at them enough, I can definitely usually see a noticeable size difference. I’m so glad you are seeing them a lot, too, and letting the milkweed grow where it will. It’s been worrying me that there are few if any other patches on my street, and the ones on the highway that look so healthy are in danger of being mowed down all the time.
We have not seen any monarchs yet, so good to hear that they are in the area. Loved the links to additional info and the narrative to the photos. some good ideas we can work into our yard.
Tks again
Thank you, Curt! I’m so glad the extra information was useful! I forgot to mention in here that monarchs typically pupate away from the milkweed. They’re good at camouflage, so it’s hard to find them. But it makes me worry about mowing or trimming anywhere near the milkweed where the caterpillars might be on their way to another plant or a tree.
Hello Humane Gardener! Do you have any information on why milkweed-related insects are often orange and black? I’m thinking monarchs, milkweed beetles, tiger milkweed caterpillars, etc – even the aphids. And a new caterpillar species I found on related dogbane – dogbane saucrobotys – is also orange and black. I’m assuming it has something to do with the chemical interactions between plant and animal but don’t recall if I’ve ever seen anything that really explains how that works. Nature is fascinating!
Hi Angela! 🙂 Yes, it’s called mimicry, and there are at least a couple different kinds: Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry.
I first started looking into this when reading about beetles and flies who look like bees; it turns out these are Batesian mimics, meaning they evolved to take on the visual characteristics of an animal who is avoided by predators. Since many animals who dine on insects avoid bees because they don’t want to get stung, insects who put on a bee costume have a better chance of not getting eaten.
And then there is Mullerian mimicry, where the mimicry is more mutual. It used to be thought that Viceroy butterflies were mimicking monarchs (and therefore were Batesian mimics). But monarchs and viceroys are both distasteful to birds because of the toxic compounds they digest from milkweed. So they evolved to mimic each other visually.
Jan was also just commenting on the color of her aphids on milkweed this morning and reminded me that Heather Holm wrote about the monarch mimicry complex. I don’t know if aphids are considered a part of that or not; so many things eat them regardless of coloring.
It really is fascinating. And mimicry happens everywhere, as with the caterpillars who make themselves look like bird poop and twigs. I found a caterpillar who looked like a twig hanging off a leaf in Minnesota — so cool!