Aphids. Golden-orange ones.

If you have multiple milkweed plants in your yard, then maybe there will be a heavy infestation of aphids on one stalk, but not every stalk on every plant. An easy way to control this is to prepare a bucket of warm water and detergent, cut the stalk off, and immerse the entire stalk, with the aphids, into the bucket. Insects can't survive in warm soapy water. With regard to attracting monarch butterflies, they seem to be most attracted to the younger milkweed plants, and they are drawn in by having a large number of milkweed total. If you have 10 or more milkweed in your yard, and there are monarchs flying around the neighborhood, chances are they will visit your yard, and lay some eggs. If you happen to see a monarch laying an egg on a milkweed, you can look at the plant after she has left, and find the egg. Then you will know what they look like. They are cream colored, and about 1/32 inch diameter, pretty large for an insect egg.

The aphids are harmless. Sometimes Lady bugs will find them and eat them. They consider them a delicacy. I usually leave them on the plants--not too attractive--but the butterflies aren't bothered by them. If you want to get rid of them, just blast them off with a hose.

Your butterfly bush should bring them in to your yard. You can definitely have a BF garden with just containers. I made a Black Swallowtail garden with fennel, dill, parsley, and Profusion zinnias in a dish pot. It's at a hospice where the owners are trying to raise enough butterflies for symbolic releases by families when a loved one passes on.

A good variety of milkweed to have is the Tropical milkweed. It's an annual, but grows quickly from seed. The Monarchs can't seem to resist this variety, and the flowers provide nectar for many different BFs.

You have definitely come to the right place to get your questions answered. There are some great people on this forum, very knowledgeable and helpful.

Sandy

I've observed them for a couple years now. I don't bother to try to control the Oleander aphids anymore. The parasitizing wasps usually do a better job of keeping the aphids in check. You will get explosions in the populations, but 4 weeks later the wasps will have caught up. Then another explosion, then 4 weeks later the wasps catch up. Basically a continuous cycle.

I've found that it is better to just keep the plant hydrated to make up for the juices the aphids suck out. It will help prevent any side affects from the aphids, which usually aren't noticeable.

Now milkweed beatles usually do noticeable damage even when there are just a few in the entire yard.

Wow! Thank you. Usually when I post on this site, one or more people have to make me feel so small for knowing so little. I'm both thrilled and humbled by how kind and helpful all the responses are. Seriously! Thanks.

I actually just went out back to count milkweed plants - 9-10 and all aphid infested to some degree. (Some can be seen from across the yard, some have to be seen close up.) Was surprised to find an oriental one, hidden among the much taller ones. Definitely can't cut down the infested ones, though. lol

On the other hand, I forgot some people can actually still see 1/32nd of an inch. That blew me away. I'm impressed. I'm going with, as long as the aphids don't eat butterfly eggs, if I got an egg, eventually, I might see a caterpillar. If I see a caterpillar, the little critter (without touching - bugs give me the hee bee gee bees when they touch me lol) onto the parsley, and hope he doesn't need as much has hubby wants. (Three well-leafed parsleys, so there should be enough for the caterpillar and us. lol)

As for seeing monarchs in my garden - nope, not yet. BUT, then again, I actually didn't think there were any butterflies in the city, until the bufferfly bush brought my first Admiral. (Spent five hours online looking up what it was. never saw a red butterfly before - just yellow and orage swallowtails.)If I keep growing the milkweed, sooner or later, a monarch will wander by - maybe.

One thing for sure, I've always wanted some ladybugs (found one on one of the milkweeds early on), but didn't think I had enough aphids to feed them. I've since learned how to make a ladybug house, and am working towards gathering the ingredients. I now know I have enough aphids. lol I definitely have parasitic wasp. They like finding cabbage moths on my lavander later in the year.

As for hydrating. God's been doing a fine job watering my garden, so far. (I think Philadelphia is getting Settle's rainfall the last couple of months.) Since I'm also growing tomatoes and other produce, I (or God) make sure they get watered daily. Probably why the aphids love them so much. lol

So, should my dill get closer to the rest of the butterfly attracting plants? I'm not growing fennel or zinnias. (Am curious which kind of fennel though. I also am getting addicted to herbs. lol)

Also, I stumbled upon the offer of milkweed on our local FreeCycle Network, so, like I said, I didn't even know there was such a wide variety. I don't have any more space in my yard to grow more this year, but when do I sow the tropical seeds? I think leaving that container alone last year, allowed the seeds I had to over-winter and sprout naturally. Then again, obviously not tropical.

Thanks again for the help. Oh, and since I just looked up tropical milkweed, found an offer for milkweed seeds. They say "free," but they're trying to bring back the monarch after a freeze killed off a whole bunch in Mexico, so let's just say "reasonably priced." The link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reasonably priced milkweed seeds

I don't grow tropical milkweed, but I have seen it grown, here in Madison, Wisconsin, as an annual. I think they start it indoors in March, and transplant it outdoors in mid-April, when it might be 8 inches tall. If you grow milkweed, sooner or later you will end up with a monarch cat-they are much easier to see, than the eggs. Monarch caterpillars do nothing but eat, and they eat nothing but milkweed leaves. They spend about two weeks eating, and during that time, they outgrow their skin four times, so they have to stop eating for a while, to shed the old skin. When they get really big, they crawl around and find something to hang from, and form a green chrysalis. They spend 10 days, more or less, developing wings and transforming themselves into a butterfly. Other butterfly species use other plants as a food source, so keep growing the parsley and dill. Monarchs are pretty scarce this spring, but we still have lots of summer left, and you might get lucky and see some in July or August.

valentine,

It sounds like you've picked a good mix of plants for your space. I hope you get a lot of hits this summer!

About the milkweed seeds: I think the Monarch freeze was back in '96.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/read/articles/snow.htm

Jeff

Hello,
I have been raising monarch butterflies for several years. I have found Swamp Milkweed the best perennial (I live in Minnesota) and Tropical Milkweed the best annual for Monarchs. The common milkweed can become invasive, popping up all over the garden. I do get aphids every once in a while, but my biggest pest the last couple of years are Swamp Milkweed bugs (big orange bugs).

The tropical milkweed is very easy to grow from seed, but it takes a couple of months before it is a decent size for the garden.

Monarchs are very easy and very fun to raise. Look under the milkweed leaves for a small cream colored egg....or any size caterpillar. Bring it inside....otherwise the majority of eggs and caterpillars are eaten by predators.

Below is a link that might help you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raising Monarchs