Summer 2019 Monarch Diary

This was my banner year! I raised and released 79 Monarch Butterflies.

The butterflies were late arriving. The Spring was cold and rainy until the first day of summer: June 21st. Then it warmed up, but we still had lots rain and some violent thunderstorms.

“Friends at church are beginning to know me, and I received a call that there were Milkweed plants being removed from one of the gardens. I was able to rescue eight caterpillars.”

These first caterpillars were together in a Butterfly condo. They lived happily there in the church preschool. Then I brought them home and separated them into critter cages to pupate and hatch. The butterflies emerged right after the Fourth of July.

I had my own caterpillars at the end of June.

Late July and August were good months and the butterflies began to lay their eggs in droves. Toward the middle of August, my Milkweed was full of caterpillars and my porch was crowded with caterpillar condos. At one point, there were 40 or more caterpillars in various stages of growth.

The weather turned cold and rainy again on September 1st. There were enough good, early Fall days that I was able to release the late hatchlings. Everything was about a month behind because of the cold start to Summer.

The last butterfly was released on September 18, 2019. It was a warm, Fall day, and she took off right away.

The Asters finally opened mid-September, and the butterfly gathering started in earnest. My garden was crowded with butterflies fueling up for their journey south. I also had one or two Tiger Swallowtails working the Phlox.

The late

Fall garden was a joy.

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