Brad, I'm glad to hear that all of your milkweed are doing so well. Since you mentioned butterfly weed, I'm going to have to check all of my containers that I winter sowed seeds in to see if my butterfly weed came up. I started some to replace the ones in the gardens that have died out. It seems like every year I lose another one or two. I'd like to have that section full again; the flowers are so pretty, and the butterflies love to nectar on them.

I've had the best luck with winter sowing over starting seeds inside over the winter. Mostly all of my 50+ containers have seedlings in them now. Since I mark the names on the bottom of my containers like is recommended (because of fading making the writing illegible eventually), I have to go through all of the containers now and see what's up and what isn't since I can't see at just a glance. Just the other day I planted my Russell Lupines out in the garden...those were the first plants to come up of the ones that I sowed. As soon as I see plants big enough to plant out in the garden, I want to do that to keep on top of things. Last year I got behind and ended up having to transplant a lot of things because they got so big before I had all of the garden spots ready where I wanted to put the plants.

That's great that you saw the first Eastern Tiger Swallowtails of the year! I know that we always have them here every year nectaring on the lilacs, which are ready to bloom soon. I think that the tigers are so pretty. So I guess I can expect to start seeing them soon...I'm also in central PA.

So far this year the butterflies I've seen are Mourning Cloak, Cabbage White, Eastern Tailed Blue, and Question Mark (that one was flying around here a lot just yesterday). The leaves on my small hackberry tree in a container are just starting to open up and so I suspect it won't be long until I have QM eggs on them...I have them every year.

Best of luck with your butterfly garden, and let's hope that this will be as good a butterfly year as last one was.
Cathy

Congrats, Brad!
Male tiger swallowtails are usually slightly smaller than females, also most overwintered butterflies are smaller than the ones you'll see this summer.
I hope you continue to see many more butterflies and your plants continue to grow!
Sherry

Thanks Cathy!

I forgot though that some of my swamp milkweed seedlings got wiped out overnight. I planted them by the creek and with all the rain, they probably got waterlogged :( . I have some more though :) . Cabbage White is another one that I've been seeing. Are the Eastern Tailed Blue like really tiny beautiful blue? If so, I saw them too. I'm really excited to see what all lays eggs and visits the garden this year!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

congratulations on your milkweed Brad! I have never tried winter sowing before but may try sowing something next winter...

our common has started to sprout and our butterfly weed came back from its first season...hopefully it will flower this year! And somehow, there are two tropical milkweed coming up..they must be seeds that didn't sprout last season as there is no other way they could have gotten there (I moved all the plants early last season)

Brad, it might be a little late to be planting fennel seeds as they start slow...you may want to get some plants since they're not very expensive. We actually have fennel growing back from last year. is this possible? The stalk looks way to big to be from seed. They must be more cold hearty than I thought.

congrats again on your swallowtail sightings!

I have not seen ANY butterflies yet this year and last year I saw mourning cloaks and swallowtails(I think) in late march. What a difference a year makes.

After a wet and cold week tomorrow is going to be 72 and sunny. could tomorrow finally be the day?!

Waiting in Minnesota, Tony

I have not seen any butterflies yet either or milkweed, and I have been looking where they were last year. So looking forward to seeing my first butterfly, so glad you did. Maybe it is finally warming up in Minnesota!

Brad, Sorry to hear about your swamp milkweed getting ruined by the rain. That's a good thing that you have more plants. I always plant extra in case something happens to some. I'd hate to be without milkweed.

Yes, the Eastern Tailed Blue is a really pretty blue and tiny. Even though it's so small, it sure is eye-catching.

It sounds like you can hardly wait for the butterflies to start laying eggs. I think this is the best time of the year and always look forward to finding eggs/cats and raising them to adulthood. It's like finding buried treasure going on an egg hunt. :-)
Cathy

minrose... do you have a sunny spot on a side of your house that's shielded from the wind?

This is where we "luckily" had common milkweed seed about 30 years ago. I see milkweed there a good 2-3 weeks before I see it anywhere else in Minnesota.

I planted a butterfly bush there last year too and it is already coming back nicely.

Finding s sunny, shielded spot can put you on pace with some of the warmer zones. It can also give you an extra generation of monarchs! we get our first eggs in mid to late may while most around the state don't report finding eggs until June.

With the high number of monarchs this year, I'm hoping to see them around the 15th!

Today is finally a good day to get out in the garden...Yeah! :)

Thanks again everyone!

It'll be awhile before I start finding eggs on my plants as they're still seedlings but you're right! I cannot wait until I start finding them ^_^. Glad to hear that the other one I saw is an Eastern Tailed Blue. Good putting a name to the wings.

Brad AKA Moonwolf