It is very gratifying to find this thread still active after four years. Thank all of you for your kind comments. I am glad that you have found the chronicle useful and enjoyable. I wasn't able to rear butterflies for the last several summers, but this year I am making up for the lapse. I am now in my third generation, and I estimate I am feeding around 60 cats in all instars. In addition, about 15 have pupated in the last two days. I have very large three-year old fennel plants that is my main food source, but some of the plants have matured and don't have much edible material left. I managed to deadhead one of the plants after the last generation of cats pupated, and that one still has some green foliage and soft seeds and flowers. I have been gradually introducing flat parsley into the feeding, but I am also finding huge cats on the parsley. Every time I go out to cut food, I find more cats. Once again, I'm starting to worry about having enough food. Tomorrow I'll check the nurseries for host plants and try to get some new growth going (pesticide free) before the fennel and parsley run completely out. geni

Sherry, I'm probably learning more than you're learning because you already know lots more than I do. :) Good grief, you have PVS that overwintered for 14 months?! I'd have probably thought that they croaked if I'd have had them. I never knew that any could go that long. I guess I'm just used to Monarchs and then think they're about all that way. I guess I was lucky that the Monarchs showed up here right away after I had some milkweed plants here. They ought to show up in droves this year because I have tons of it ready for them, especially Tropical Milkweed. ;-) I have buds on a few of mine that will open soon. Those plants grow faster than Butterfly Weed and Swamp Milkweed. That has been my experience here anyway. My Swamp Milkweeds in pots are finally deciding to start growing more; hopefully I'll be able to use those to feed the Monarch cats but if not there's always all of the Tropical Milkweed plants. Last year, my first year, I didn't start finding Monarch cats here until the beginning of August. I wonder if that's a usual year for my area? Wow, you collect more eggs in one day that I get in a whole season...165...wow! Do you know about how many you raise every year or don't you keep track of the numbers? It was very interesting reading of your butterfly experiences, and I bet you have lots of stories you could tell since you've raised so many and different kinds. What you said about the Aristolochia almost makes me wonder if I should keep it covered this year, as I just can't picture it growing enough to feed a bunch of PVS, probably not even one. I'd have to have eggs on it and then not be able to feed them. I guess I'd have to adopt them out somehow and hope that someone would take them. I wonder if most people cover their plants the first year. So you overfeed yours, huh? ;-) I have mallow growing in containers that I want to put outside soon. I just dug a flower bed for some of them today but didn't get them put out yet. I didn't get Painted Ladies last year on the hollyhocks that I have here (didn't see any butterflies) and was hoping that maybe the mallow would make them magically appear. :-D I have more host foods for butterflies this year than I did last year, and I suppose next year I will have more than I do this year because there are still a few things that I would like to get, mainly a few host plants for various types of butterflies, the Paw Paw tree being one of the plants. I hope some of the butterflies will hang around here. I don't care if some fly off because that might make some other person happy to see them at their place, but I wish I could have a few stay here. It kind of reminds me of Charlotte's Web at the end of the story where Charlotte dies but has an egg sack that hatches out lots of spiders. Wilbur watches in horror as they all start taking off for parts unknown, but to his delight, I think 3 stay behind with Wilbur.

Thanks for the comments, everyone! John, I'd say that the surrounding area is healthy just like you said. It's a rural area but of course like most everywhere else getting built up more and more by the year. I hope that you'll have enough food to feed your American Ladies. Just last night I decided to bring some in so that we could watch them better. They're much easier to bring in on the Pearly Everlasting than they are on the pussytoes, although I have both and they lay eggs on both. I wasn't going to bring any in, but they're so pretty; I have about 20 on our screened back porch. I haven't seen any Monarchs yet. You're lucky that you've gotten a visit from them. I'm really hoping that more and more people will plant milkweed and that their numbers will increase after having such a dramatic drop. If other people would get as excited about the Monarchs and other butterflies as you are, I'm sure that their populations would soar. :-) Sherry, I wish too that you'd have the Giant Swallowtails pay you a visit. I think they're such a neat caterpillar and butterly even if my mom does say that the cats look like monsters. lol I guess she was used to less "scary"-looking types like the Monarchs and Black Swallowtails, and along comes this big bad Giant. Ha, my mom is in her 70's and makes me laugh with some of the things that she says, but then again, I suppose my family thinks I'm kind of goofy too. They do love raising the cats too though. I'll cross my fingers that you get lots of Giant Swallowtails because I know that you have plenty to feed them and would have fun raising them. I think I remember that you too love to raise those and the Pipevine Swallowtails. My PVST are hatching here and there and I have them in several instars now, which reminds me that I should go out and gather more leaves for them. Martha, That's great that your co-workers are leaving milkweed grow at their places and not pulling them or spraying them. It does our hearts good to see milkweed growing at places. My mom has some that came up in amongst the vines in her yard that I planted for her years ago. You can tell that they're not meant to be there and probably to other people looks unsightly, but I told her I'm leaving them there for the Monarchs and she's fine with that. I really do try to educate people about the butterflies and hope that some people pick up on it. I bought some parsley at Lowe's the other year and was showing the BST cats on it to people in the store. After having a lengthy talk about them to the clerk in the gardening section telling her what they were, etc., it was very disheartening to me as I was leaving to have her say, "I'd still squish them." Some people just can't be educated, unfortunately, but I think that a lot can. I think that the world would be a better place with lots of butterflies around. I think that all of us here are working on that. :-) Cathy

Oh, I'm just in panic mode, which always happens just before I go on vacation. I just had to ask since I hadn't mixed species before, LOL. I guess I'm just worried about diseases; I've had my fill of deaths and can't handle many more. Monarchs: 1 black death last year; 1 cat refused to eat this year (5 days-euth). BSTs: 1 crumbled wings (euth), 1 couldn't fly & dead the next morning). I have 7 monarch cats that I've raised so far indoors that I'm giving to my boss to continue raising; not taking them back. I'm going away the 14th-17th and the 23rd-30th. I keep saying that I'm not going to check the milkweeds, but I can't control myself. I found one large cat a few hours ago, probably 5th instar, and 2 smaller ones, probably 2nd's. So, off to the cage they went, as to not overwhelm my boss. I'm starting to lose count & track of how many I have in my cage, another thing I promised myself I wouldn't do. I do have my neighbors, hopefully that I can rely on, to check my cage daily to see if my monarch ecloses at the end of the month.