From my daughter Kim's encouragement, I have created a blog about my Monarchs.
I love gardening. My mother loved to garden and I am sure I got my love of garden from her.
After I married my husband Dave in 1976.. I loved house plants so growing something outside was equally rewarding. We bought our first home in 1977 and I created my first garden. I created a raised bed that was 4' x 6'. I had tomatoes and herbs.
In 1998, we purchased 8 acres in Mathews Va. It is a small town located on the Chesapeake Bay. We built a small garage apartment in 2001. In 2004, I moved to Mathews to open a Curves gym for Women. My husband continued to live in VB and we would get together every weekend. In 2013, we built our dream home. Today I have a large garden.
I love gardening and everything to do with gardening. I grew my first Milkweed plant last year. I received some tropical milk week seeds at a Master Gardener's seed swap. I started the seedlings in my kitchen. I was able to grow 3 plants. My friend, Ava Joe, also gave me some Swamp milk weed plants. Last year, I had over 20 caterpillars eat my milkweed. I never saw a chrysalis in my garden. In the end of October, I had 1 lone monarch caterpillar and brought it into my screen porch. It formed a chrysalis on a jade plant. After almost 3 week nothing happened. I brought the Jade plant into my kitchen with the chrysalis attached. I then went on a 2 week vacation to attend my nephew's weeding and visit Kim in Santa Cruz, Ca. When I returned there was a monarch flying around my kitchen. I gave it sugar water and nectar plants but unfortunately it died. He was a male (2 dark stops on his hind wings) and we called him Marc. Thus, my love of Monarchs began.
I had saved several seed pods for grow milkweed next year. My wonderful husband, Dave, built me a harbor freight greenhouse last fall In the spring of this year, I grew around 150 milkweed plants. I kept 50 and gave 100 plants away.
I kept some of the plants in pots and planted the rest in a new improved butterfly garden. I now have plenty of host plants. I purchased many new butterfly and hummingbird plants for the nectar. I also added several glasses for shelter. I am now ready for this year's Monarchs.
I was told that we normally do not see Monarchs in the spring. We see them in the fall on their return to Mexico. This spring I saw a female Monarch flying. I was thrilled. I saw 3 Monarch caterpillars in the garden. I watched them for a few days and planned to take them into my screened porch. Unfortunately, the next day I could not find the caterpillars. I looked through the garden to see if I could find any chrysalis. I found one. I knew from my research, they would hatch around 10-14 days. About two weeks later, I saw a Monarch butterfly hanging from the now transparent chrysalis. It was hanging there and flapping it's wings every minute or so. I decided to watch it until it flew off. I went into the house and got my tablet. After my research, I found out that this could take many hours. Needless to say, I was not going to sit in the hot sun for hours. Unfortunately, I did not see it fly off. In the day or two, I did see the 3 Monarch butterflies flying around my gardens.
After about a week, I saw some more caterpillars. I decided to wait until they were in the 4th or 5th instar. I bought in 19 cats. They all went to the chrysalis stag. All 19 caterpillars hatched. The first four cats hatched the day we were to visit our Son Bryan for an evening. After research, I found out that if they were born in the morning they should be freed that evening. I asked my sister-in-law Tammy if she could take them out that evening to let them fly away. I gave her instructions to say a little pre talk to encourage them to make eggs and stay close. Tammy, my bother-in-law Buz, and mother-in-law came over that evening and watch the Monarchs fly away. The next day we came home and over a few days gave the Monarchs freedom. It is fun to watch them fly away. I bought a butterfly net at the Dollar Tree so I could catch the Monarchs. After the drying out of the wings, the Monarchs went to the screens in the porch and would walk up the screens and fly down and continued to do this. I took the net and put it over the butterfly and took a magazine and closed up the top of the net. I then went out of the porch and took the magazine off the top of the net. I expected them to immediately fly away but this was not the case. They stayed a little bit and then flew. They flew up high and over our two story house.
To my surprise a week or two later, I began to see caterpillars again. This time, I bought in 7 more cats and watched them grow. Only 5 survived. I cat feel and died and 1 chrysalis turned brown and did not hatch. This time, I saw of the chrysalis becoming transparent and I new a Monarch was going to hatch very soon. I got my husband to set up his camera. After several hours of watching, we saw the Monarch emerge. We were successful taping it. It was indeed thrilling.
About two weeks ago, I saw a female laying eggs on my milkweed. I knew caterpillars would be born in 3 -4 days and indeed they were born. There were cats everywhere.
I ended up taking in around 40 cats. Trying to feed 40 hunger cats was crazy. In the first week, I had 17 good sized milkweed in pots and they went through it in a week. At the end of the week, I had large Milkweed stems with not a single left and they were chewed down at least 12".
The second week of the cats, I started cutting back my milkweed and placing them in flower vases. I was going through 9-10 cuttings each day. I was afraid I was going to run out of milkweed. Fortunately, I had enough milkweed. After the cats started making chrysalis, the process went very quickly. I had chrysalis everywhere. I had them under the tables, chairs, from walls, plants, etc. One exciting thing happened, this morning we witnessed a cat becoming a chrysalis. It takes around 10 minutes and it was very exciting.
I love gardening. My mother loved to garden and I am sure I got my love of garden from her.
After I married my husband Dave in 1976.. I loved house plants so growing something outside was equally rewarding. We bought our first home in 1977 and I created my first garden. I created a raised bed that was 4' x 6'. I had tomatoes and herbs.
In 1998, we purchased 8 acres in Mathews Va. It is a small town located on the Chesapeake Bay. We built a small garage apartment in 2001. In 2004, I moved to Mathews to open a Curves gym for Women. My husband continued to live in VB and we would get together every weekend. In 2013, we built our dream home. Today I have a large garden.
I love gardening and everything to do with gardening. I grew my first Milkweed plant last year. I received some tropical milk week seeds at a Master Gardener's seed swap. I started the seedlings in my kitchen. I was able to grow 3 plants. My friend, Ava Joe, also gave me some Swamp milk weed plants. Last year, I had over 20 caterpillars eat my milkweed. I never saw a chrysalis in my garden. In the end of October, I had 1 lone monarch caterpillar and brought it into my screen porch. It formed a chrysalis on a jade plant. After almost 3 week nothing happened. I brought the Jade plant into my kitchen with the chrysalis attached. I then went on a 2 week vacation to attend my nephew's weeding and visit Kim in Santa Cruz, Ca. When I returned there was a monarch flying around my kitchen. I gave it sugar water and nectar plants but unfortunately it died. He was a male (2 dark stops on his hind wings) and we called him Marc. Thus, my love of Monarchs began.
I had saved several seed pods for grow milkweed next year. My wonderful husband, Dave, built me a harbor freight greenhouse last fall In the spring of this year, I grew around 150 milkweed plants. I kept 50 and gave 100 plants away.
I kept some of the plants in pots and planted the rest in a new improved butterfly garden. I now have plenty of host plants. I purchased many new butterfly and hummingbird plants for the nectar. I also added several glasses for shelter. I am now ready for this year's Monarchs.
I was told that we normally do not see Monarchs in the spring. We see them in the fall on their return to Mexico. This spring I saw a female Monarch flying. I was thrilled. I saw 3 Monarch caterpillars in the garden. I watched them for a few days and planned to take them into my screened porch. Unfortunately, the next day I could not find the caterpillars. I looked through the garden to see if I could find any chrysalis. I found one. I knew from my research, they would hatch around 10-14 days. About two weeks later, I saw a Monarch butterfly hanging from the now transparent chrysalis. It was hanging there and flapping it's wings every minute or so. I decided to watch it until it flew off. I went into the house and got my tablet. After my research, I found out that this could take many hours. Needless to say, I was not going to sit in the hot sun for hours. Unfortunately, I did not see it fly off. In the day or two, I did see the 3 Monarch butterflies flying around my gardens.
After about a week, I saw some more caterpillars. I decided to wait until they were in the 4th or 5th instar. I bought in 19 cats. They all went to the chrysalis stag. All 19 caterpillars hatched. The first four cats hatched the day we were to visit our Son Bryan for an evening. After research, I found out that if they were born in the morning they should be freed that evening. I asked my sister-in-law Tammy if she could take them out that evening to let them fly away. I gave her instructions to say a little pre talk to encourage them to make eggs and stay close. Tammy, my bother-in-law Buz, and mother-in-law came over that evening and watch the Monarchs fly away. The next day we came home and over a few days gave the Monarchs freedom. It is fun to watch them fly away. I bought a butterfly net at the Dollar Tree so I could catch the Monarchs. After the drying out of the wings, the Monarchs went to the screens in the porch and would walk up the screens and fly down and continued to do this. I took the net and put it over the butterfly and took a magazine and closed up the top of the net. I then went out of the porch and took the magazine off the top of the net. I expected them to immediately fly away but this was not the case. They stayed a little bit and then flew. They flew up high and over our two story house.
To my surprise a week or two later, I began to see caterpillars again. This time, I bought in 7 more cats and watched them grow. Only 5 survived. I cat feel and died and 1 chrysalis turned brown and did not hatch. This time, I saw of the chrysalis becoming transparent and I new a Monarch was going to hatch very soon. I got my husband to set up his camera. After several hours of watching, we saw the Monarch emerge. We were successful taping it. It was indeed thrilling.
About two weeks ago, I saw a female laying eggs on my milkweed. I knew caterpillars would be born in 3 -4 days and indeed they were born. There were cats everywhere.
I ended up taking in around 40 cats. Trying to feed 40 hunger cats was crazy. In the first week, I had 17 good sized milkweed in pots and they went through it in a week. At the end of the week, I had large Milkweed stems with not a single left and they were chewed down at least 12".
The second week of the cats, I started cutting back my milkweed and placing them in flower vases. I was going through 9-10 cuttings each day. I was afraid I was going to run out of milkweed. Fortunately, I had enough milkweed. After the cats started making chrysalis, the process went very quickly. I had chrysalis everywhere. I had them under the tables, chairs, from walls, plants, etc. One exciting thing happened, this morning we witnessed a cat becoming a chrysalis. It takes around 10 minutes and it was very exciting.
