There is no mistaking for that wonderful "Monarch waltz" in the air. Hope that your new milkweed does well for you,Miss Sherry. I know you have had a time finding the right milkweed for your area. Isn't the A. linaria some of the wild that you found near where you live? I'll bet that the A. perennis will do quite nicely for you, also. I haven't gotten any Trop. mw planted yet, Sandy. I plan to pick some up at Marilyn's sale. I've been running behind, and as of last Friday,I've gotten even SLOWER! I was cutting back the dead on some Salvia greggii, and wacked off part of the tip of my middle finger of my left hand!!! OUCH!!! So, I got to be treated as a patient in my own place of employment! There was nothing to stitch back, so it is going to have to heal from the inside. And, I'm am going to have to be very, very careful about keeping it out of the dirt. :( I was most fortunate that it wasn't worse than what it was. And, I am right handed, so that has been a help. But, try washing your hair, flossing, trimming, planting, and TYPING with one hand. I know better. I feel pretty stupid. No eggs, yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today, so hopefully more leaves will come out. I have new buds on my tomentosa, also. No serpentaria or clematitis, yet. No pipevines. And, only a small pipevine chrys. I sure hope that some have overwintered on the vines. I may have to beg some cats from you. How fun to be able to release some butterflies at your Seminar!!! Have a wonderful time. Be sure to let us know how it went. Hey Randy. It's really not that early for me to see Monarchs. Last year, I saw my 1st Monarch Mar. 25th. The year before was March 30th. So, it is usually about this time. Last year my milkweed was up March 25th, and I had eggs by March 30th. Be sure to share when you see your 1st Monarch. The 1st is always so special. And, be sure to post on Journey North with your 1st Monarch, 1st mw up, and 1st eggs. Congrats upon your Henric's elfin, Sandy. I should check the Redbuds more closely. Randy, keep me posted when the Chinaberries start leafing out. I still haven't found a Soapberry hairstreak.

Hi Ashley, Maybe someone from your area could tell you when to expect the Monarchs. I'd have thought they'd be there by now, but not everyone can attract them right away. Last year was my first year at butterflying and was lucky enough to get them and raised 70 cats. So far I have one in a pupa, 2 ready to go in one, and 10 munching away on milkweed. I have loads of milkweed planted for them and so maybe the female just couldn't resist stopping by here. I'll see more eventually, I'm sure. Yes, those bugs are Oleander Aphids, and I bet they look like the picture in the link I provided. I never use pesticides on any of my plants. If you do that and a butterfly would happen to come by after that, it could kill the butterfly. If it lays eggs, it would kill the caterpillars when they eat the leaves. I'm not sure how long the pesticides last, but I really don't want to use them and chance losing any Monarchs because of it. I squoosh the aphids, and some people blast them with water. Of course, I don't think that kills them but would get them off of your plant temporarily. Those things multiply like crazy, so I prefer to kill them; otherwise I'm afraid I'd end up having a million of them here. Good luck with things, and I hope the Monarchs show up there. Cathy Here is a link that might be useful: Oleander Aphids

...I mean the "eggless/cat-less" plants. After posting this, in my urgency to get the cats into some "home," I found a link to a "raising MBs" site, and put them in a tupperware container with a wet paper towel. They seemed to have settled down (when I found them, and took the leaf off, they were all wriggly). So they're on my kitchen table at the moment, and I took some of the plants out of the pile and put them in vases. I don't know how long the MW will last in a vase; hopefully long enough for this project. There are probably 100 or more cats on this leaf. After I found them, and stopped ripping out the MW, I don't know if there's enough for all these cats. I'll probably end up taking them all over the neighborhood trying to find a new stand of MW for them to do their thing on. I don't own a fish-tank or anything to raise them completely. They'll have to go back outside. I feel like a louse.

They have to be dead for them to send them in and receive their money. Yes, they are paid $5 per tag, which for the poor locals, is a lot of money. As far as I know, they don't kill them, they collect the dead ones that litter the forest floor. The Monarchs are not flying around much in the forest. They only come down from the trees for a rare drink of water and then back up they go. I doubt if there is much "killing" going on. You can, however, check out Journey North, which posts the migration, both north and south. The migration is underway and latest reports reflect Monarchs are at the Red River, which borders northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. I live in central Oklahoma, so I can barely wait! Tagging is done gently and easily, and usually right when the butterfly ecloses. They rest until their wings are dry and they warm up enough to fly. This takes anywhere from 1 to several hours. The tiny little "dot" sticker tag is just gently applied to the outside of the upper wing. Even children are doing it at Monarch Waystations elementary schools. I plan to do it this summer myself. It's important information that Monarch Watch is gathering in regard to these migrating butterflies. It is a personal decision, but I don't mind helping out the hispanic population IN Mexico. BTW, Edna frequents the Butterfly Forum and I believe it was her that suggested I check out the Cottage Garden forum, too. Susan