Oh my goodness! I can't believe it!
Do you grow MW by the acre, Sherry?
You just never get a break, but at least raising caterpillars is happy work! :)
MissSherry

ACRE? Ha! I live in Southern California in the suburbs! Ask MDN...he's been to my little house (well, not IN the house, hahaha!). Nah-I have this patch around the Silk Floss tree in the front yard, one potted plant in the side yard, a rectangular patch in the back, a patch under the lemon tree, several under the Plumeria, a small patch under the Hibiscus/Gardenia, another in a pot...you get the picture. I also have a bunch started in pots in various places. So the fact that all these Monarchs are finding my yard just cracks me up!

I tell you, though, that when I just had my initial 'patch' I only had like five plants. It wasn't until I changed it to a whole entire MILKWEED patch that the Monarchs showed up. I think it was Eric in Wisconsin who had said something several years ago about planting at least ten plants or something like that. I went out and bought every single Milkweed plant that the Fullerton Arboretum had and transplanted them in my little patch. Soon I had Monarchs a-visiting and oviposting. They must've smelled the sweetness of the nectar or something! Then, hubby said I could take over the area under the Silk Floss, then the area under the Lemon tree then...

Well at least I don't feel so strange about having flowers and plants all over my house! I have them in the back, on the side, in the front, in containers...I even have a pot on the grill-I'm horrible this year with plants and flowers. I want butterflies to come and visit so much that everytime I leave the house anymore, I wind up at the nursery! Just one more plant..HeHeHe!!

Aggie

PS-The Red Admiral went into his Chrysalis and I also bought a ton of Painted Ladies, so I have butterflies to raise.

WOW! I'm impressed! I don't know how you do it. I stressed with the 20 eggs I had last year. I wondered also how you feed them all.

Some of my milkweed came back but most of them must have died from the terrible frost we had. What I do have is growing very slow. I planted more seeds. Monarchs usually show up her around August and September.

Oh hohoheeheehahaha, I'm sorry, but you have me cracking up, Sherry! :-D You thought you were done with them and now you find 72 eggs, and I bet that's only the beginning...well, the beginning of round two, that is! LOL I guess that'll teach hubby for giving you all those areas to plant milkweed in, huh! Blame it on him! :) I just can't imagine having all the cats to raise that you've raised already, wow! Haha, that's funny about your eyes rolling! I sure hope you don't go cross-eyed by the end of the month! Hee hee. Oh my gosh, what if you get even more from now on than you had before?! I sure hope you have enough plants for all of them. Have you ever counted the plants that you have?

I went nuts planting milkweed this year. My husband's about ready to commit me and I swear when our daughter's friend (and other people) come here and see all of my plants, they give me some kind of a look that kind of makes me think that they think I'm not normal. Well, so maybe I'm not, I suppose, but geez, doesn't everyone have 600 milkweed plants? :-D I don't know if it's exactly that many but I know it's in the hundreds. I want to really make sure I have enough! I just transplanted more in bigger pots today. I have both Swamp Milkweed and the Tropical Milkweed plants that came up from seeds that you gave me. They are almost blooming, and the plants are really healthy looking! I'm ready for the Monarchs all except for the butterfly cage, and if I don't have time to do that, I can always raise them on our back porch like I did last year and put up a "Watch your step" sign.

I think that the school year is ending just in time because you might just get another thousand Monarch cats to raise yet plus others. Have fun!

Cathy

What a neat picture! What is the season for monarchs in California? Also, does anyone know how long it takes an impregnated female to begin laying eggs?

An impregnated female Monarch can begin laying eggs immediately...

As far as the 'season' for Monarchs in California? It depends on where you live. Where I live you can actually see them year-round. In one city, just about a half-hour's drive away, they have decided to have their own little colony of sorts and live there year-round. During the winter, a group migrates to the coastline and then travels northward in the spring. I live in Southern California and have seen them throughout the year...

I am actually in my 2nd massive egg-laying/collection (or at the END) when I saw the pair pictured above. This year, I started seeing caterpillars on March 15th. I started my first massive egg collection on April 13th and this tapered down through the last egg on May 1st. On May 24th the next big collection began, and is beginning to taper down (or so it appears as of yesterday, June 17th). But, then, I saw those two...so who knows?

I do know that my neighbor, an elderly gal, who lives directly across the street, has planted Milkweed (she loved mine!) and she found a caterpillar some time ago. Another neighbor, on the next street over, found a Milkweed plant growing in the planter on her front porch. She has two children and they found eggs last week as well as a gorgeous chrysalis so who knows where there may be more Milkweed in the neighborhood, and thus, more Monarch eggs and caterpillars!

You are definitely making up for last year, Sherry! Do you plan on tagging all of these Monarchs? I thought Monarch Watch now had tags for the California Monarchs, no?

Susan