Can you see it?
Closer?
Now can you see it? Click on the photo.
This is one of five caterpillars I could see, ferociously eating a leaf of the milkweed plant. It was eating in a circle, munching and lunching and doing it’s “thing”. I was so excited to see them, a mature Monarch flitting nearby, stopping to sip on the nectar of the flowers atop the milkweed.
Last year, I counted one. One Monarch butterfly. Only one Monarch all summer long in my garden. To see these beautiful insects eating away on their host plant in front of my eyes was exciting. It gave me hope – and it gave me courage. Maybe, just maybe, one by one, little steps, like planting milkweed, that citizen scientists like you and like me can do will help save the Monarch.
Let’s at least try. Okay?
Penny, this is such good news! (and this year I know that milkweed is the same as our swan plant) It’s amazing what can be achieved when thousands of people do one small thing. I’m so happy that you are encouraging others to do the same. Here, the schools and kindergartens like to plant swan plants so the children can watch the monarchs through their life cycle.
I like your term ‘citizen scientists’.
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I love that your students and ours do the same thing; the plant is the same, though the name is a little different, and they learn about the monarchs life cycle while growing into citizen scientists. Janet, who comments just below, is a retired teacher and did this with her students.
I wish I could take ownership of the term “citizen scientist”, but, it goes back far in time. Thanks, Juliet.
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HI, “Sister Innocense sp.”, I too have planted milkweed to bring the Monarchs. Not very many this year at all. The Cone Flowers are doing their job as well as the Butterfly Bush. I could always count on numerous butterflies and moths but not in the last couple of years. I sing a song if I see a Bee.
by the way, you taught me in the sixth grade at St.Peter and Paul in Omaha NE. I do believe I was a pet project of yours. Not sure, but when the arithmetic lessons came up sometimes I was let go to get water for the plants in our class room. I loved that. ! Such a long time ago, but I remember you very much. You were fun. Jeanne Hamsa also was a classmate. I hope sometime we could meet. If possible. Thanks, Mary Grace Chandler Hansen. Omaha.
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Dear Mary Grace,
I am not Sister Innocence, but, I think I know where you can find her. Now known as Dee Ready, she and I read and comment on each other’s blogs. Dee is, I believe, the Sister Innocence you are looking for. She has written about her time in Omaha on her blog and I think she would enjoy hearing from you. This is her blog:
http://cominghometomyself.blogspot.com
I was delighted to see your comment this morning, Mary Grace. Our friends, the butterflies and the bees, are struggling these days and their numbers dwindling, but, it is good that you have planted milkweed, coneflowers, and butterfly bush to help them along.
Good luck in connecting with Sister Innocence. I think you will both find it uplifting.
Penny
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I knew right away what you were seeing! We just came back from a drive through the Conservation Area. I commented on and was excited about all of the healthy looking milkweed plants out there. It was such a contrast to last year when there had been such a drought and what milkweed survived to this point in the year looked sickly and dry. I am sure that it is good news for monarchs who had a rough couple of years. It also makes me feel a little nostalgic for a classroom of children who would be excited about raising their own monarchs and releasing them. By the way, I believe the one in the photo is a female so perhaps you are seeing her second or third generation.
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I imagined you would, Janet. We took a walk today after church with two other couples at a small conservation area near here and noted the same thing. The milkweeds are looking good. The prairie actually looked magnificent. Last year seemed so dire after the droughts. I know the monarchs, and the bees, aren’t out of the woods, but, it is encouraging, isn’t it?
That I may be seeing a second or third generation is very encouraging. Thanks for sharing that, my friend.
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That’s wonderful!
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I think so, too. Thanks, Claire. 🙂
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This makes me as “happy as a room without a roof” as Pharrell Williams sings!
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Now, that’s one big kinda happy, Marilyn. 🙂
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Hooray! Here’s to Milkweed!
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Yes. Yes, indeed! Thanks for stopping by and for commenting, Cynthia.
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It’s so exciting, Penny! I am right there with you in being just thrilled. I am doing some homework on the topic, myself, and I’m a bit confused. I was all ready last year to plant milkweed in my garden, and I even took an on-line mini-course that was supposed to address how we could do more to create healthy monarch habitats in our home gardens. But then I hit a bump when I read on another site that milkweed is an invasive plant in California and not considered a good host! I got so confused and have since let the subject lie a bit dormant while I address other gardening needs. I have seen a few Monarchs already this summer, and feel so happy when I do. I want to do more, but I need more information so that i do it well. I even asked the host of the on-line course who admitted she knew nothing about us in the west. LOL! I’ll get there. Meanwhile I’m delighted for you. I know how much attention you give these matters, and it’s one of the things I most admire about you. You’ve kick-started me back to my research, so thank you! (I love Marilyn’s comment!)
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I am so glad you wrote this, Debra.
You are right to exercise due diligence and I really respect that in you. Milkweed can be invasive,which is part of the loop in the plight of the Monarch. It has been eradicated by farmers for it invades fields and it has been removed from roadsides and, well, just about anyplace it wants to grow. Unfortunately, it is the only host plant to Monarchs. The milkweed here invited itself in. It appeared about four years ago. I knew what it was and let it be. It has now spread, by one more plant, and with the clear cutting next door, I can see a plot of it that was unearthed in the destruction. Some good always comes out of bad. hehe You may find that you can’t provide milkweed, but, you do have water and trees that are helpful in migration of monarchs, so, you are already doing something, my friend
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I had to giggle about the response you got to your question. The host of the course is probably sitting somewhere in the midwest. Juliet, who is the first comment in this stream, is in New Zealand. They have Monarchs there, which I never knew before blogging. They call the host plant the swan plant.
Isn’t it a great comment? Okay. I’ve already written too much and need to go out and check on those caterpillars. “)
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I may be even more excited by this post than you Penny ! How amazing. After reading Barbara Kingsolver’s amazing novel ” Flight Behaviour”, I have become passionate about learning all I can about the Monarchs.
It was an unexpected treat when we were in Melbourne, earlier this year, to visit the 3D cinema attached to the city museum ( one of those huge 3 storey high screen things) to find a fabulous film about the couple who spent their lives researching the mysteries of the Monarchs…using volunteers all over N & S America, tagging and reporting their journeys.
A fabulous post……and I am incredibly excited ! Jx
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It was you, Janice, who led me to open the pages of “Flight Behavior” (can it be a year already?). I was hoping you would see this.
The film sounds interesting. Was the about Chip Taylor? Our garden club has been involved in the tagging process, through the guidance, enthusiasm, and teaching of two of our members. They are our lovely butterfly ladies. Pat has even travelled to Mexico to the area where the Monarchs overwinter. Jane met Chip Taylor and then returned to Illinois to begin establishing Monarch Waystations.
Thank you, my dear, for your enthusiasm.
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I always thought Milkweed was just something (a weed?) that one found alongside old country roads. Who knew you could cultivate it? Now that I know, I may be adding some seeds to my list for an area I’m hoping to plant, if not yet this year, then certainly next Spring.
Thank you, Penny, for sharing ideas for some of the simple things we can do to try to make a difference in our outdoor environment. Having spent far more of my life in an office environment than in a backyard, and never being much of a gardener, I’m coming quite late to this awareness.
Your photos, as always, are just amazing.
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I did, too, Karen, and for many, it is a weed – not so for the Monarch butterfly. A friend even tried to get me to grow them about 10 years ago, and I would have no part of it, but, we grow and learn and reverse courses often in life. Thank goodness for those who started to connect the plight of the Monarchs and milkweed and our environment. The fact that butterflies are a rather large insect that can be monitored and tagged has helped.
You’re welcome, Karen, and you put it so well. It is in the simple things that we can make a difference. I’m excited for you as you enter this time of being able to enjoy gardening a bit. It’s never too late and I think we tend to appreciate it more as we enter new phases of our lives.
Thank you very much.
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How lovely to see your Very Hungry Caterpillar munching away like that, Penny. may your milkweed be host to many more.
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Thank you, Perpetua. Just came in from watering the front garden and was treated to several Monarch butterflies flitting about – the caterpillars made it!
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Great news.Thanks for helping the cause.
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Such a nice thing to say, Sallie. The news gets even better as now there are several Monarchs fluttering about. 🙂
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