Also had a very brightly marked three spotted skipper (?) to visit ...

Edit: Brazilian SkipperCalpodes ethlius

Three pipevine swallowtails were too busy chasing each other in circles to get a photo.

I have seen two, that's all, but grateful for that. They were very busy on my butterfly weed.

Wow that's wonderful Roselee! Last year I was the first time I've seen Monarchs in my my garden and that was thanks to my Gregg's mistflower. Last year I was outside checking on my plants and I looked down the street and saw an orange object fluttering toward me. Once it got closer I saw it was a Monarch and it made a bee line towards my Gregg's mistflower right in front of me. It was a clear blue sky so I was able to see the butterfly clearly. I haven't seen any this year, but I'm seeing lots of Queens and Painted Ladies.

They're starting to show up on my frostweed.

I just saw my first Monarch of the year today. ;-)

Thanks for posting this info. The past 2 days there's a bunch of newly emerged GF from my Passiflora that captured my attention. There's a Purple porterweed nearby that they visit. Then this morning I saw my 1st Monarch there. This blurry picture is the only one where both are visible close together. (correct me if my tentative/naive ID is wrong) A minute after this, one of the little GFs seemed to be chasing the Monarch in circles around the backyard. The Monarch then found another less crowded Porterweed in the front yard. Soon a 2nd and 3rd flew by from north. I might not have noticed the Monarch among the GF's at a distance had I not read Roselee's timely report! This is in NE SA.

It was neat to see all the brand new GF's yesterday. Plus the weather was perfect here all day. I like to think I helped nurture this first (very late) batch of caterpillars on the Passionflower, by removing the many ants that had been on the plant & support wire all season. This is my 1st year growing butterfly plants so bear with my naive golly-gee enthusiasm and imprecise terminology please.

I saw 3 Monarchs earlier, I'm so happy. :)

Dan, when I first saw the orange colors flying around the back yard I thought at first "Gulf frits? No, too big. Could it possibly be ... ???" And it was!

Only one Monarch here today, but several painted ladies showed up along with a bright orange skipper.

Are you coming to the gathering of the SAPS (San Antonio Plant Swap) this Sat.? I have a few extra plants if you want them.

Was going to send you a message through Houzz but you're not set up.

Blackwillow, great shot of the Monarch!

I have some but can never take good pics

Thanks Roselee! They've only visited my Gregg's mistflower and no other flower.

Goldenrod seems to be the choice today

Abarbi -- those are fantastic photos!!!!

A GF that's finally made its way to my red pentas -- which, along with another + a pink one -- that have been in the garden since April.

My yard used to have tons of butterflies flitting about, and I don't know why it's been so quiet this year. No monarchs yet, but I'm hoping this post will bring me some luck! (We're about 10 mi SW of Houston.)

Thanks for your photo, javiwa!

I used to take having 'tons' of butterflies in my yard all summer for granted, but not anymore. I don't know if it's from the drought, wider use of insecticides and herbicides, or what. There's a long post about the dearth of butterflies all over the US on the Butterfly forum.

TY, roselee. I spend most of my time visiting the Kitchens forum (no thanks to a nightmare kitchen reno that lasted three years!), but I pass through the various gardening forums when I get a chance. I've been secretly admiring your amazing garden from afar. :)

Years ago, when the kids were young, we 'raised' a lot of Monarchs...it was a wonderful experience. We would have let Mother Nature do her thing in the backyard, but the wasps were decimating our newly hatched cats. We brought many eggs indoors and raised them to chrysalis stage before hanging them outside. What a sight to behold, our fences and shrubs adorned with suspended chrysalises! (However, my friends didn't much appreciate visiting, wondering if there would be caterpillars crawling about.)

Hahaha! I know what you mean. When I was about 10/11 years old I raised butterflies and cecropia moths in the house.. My Mom was very tolerant, but I'll never forget the look on my Dad's face when a great big moth caterpillar went crawling across the dining room table while we were eating.

They are still up north by me (in NJ), been very, very mild and my tropical milkweeds are in full bloom. Not sure when they are heading south this year! This year, there were more than in the last several years so hopefully it's getting better. I never use any pesticides, nothing.

I'm seeing quite a few around, too. Yesterday I counted 5 feeding on tithonias along with some painted ladies. Got a quick photo of one on the tithonia this morning:

Lorelei and Brian, those are GREAT photos!

Lorelei you really captured the blue on that black swallowtail.

Brian, once while at SABG I noticed that there were more butterflies on their tithonias than anything else near by.

There were still a few Monarchs hanging around my yard today ... :-)

Thanks, Ragna. I've noticed that they draw more butterflies than other things in my yard, too. The bees and hummingbirds are frequent visitors as well. Cosmos sulphureus daisies are the 2nd favorite of butterflies and bees in my yard.

The only down side to them is they quickly decline about 4-6 weeks after their big bloom period. Very similar to cosmos daisies in life cycle. They do grow from seed very quickly, so successive plantings work well. The ones pictured above are offspring of tithonias I planted this spring.

Love all of the butterfly pics. Beautiful!

Got a good picture of a Queen butterfly today that was on the cosmos daisies:

Have a few pipevine swallowtails around but haven't been able to get a photo of them yet.

Perfectly posed, matching color combos, and with a bee to boot! Thanks Brian.

OK, I cheated. I had to go to a local nursery to spot Monarchs, but at least they're around!

I couldn't resist, and brought home a purple and a white buddleia. :)

javiwa, I love all pictures of butterflies any ol' day or way -- no matter where you find them!

I enjoyed all the photos above while scrolling down to say that the photo I posted above is a Brazilian SkipperCalpodes ethlius. Scroll down on the link to see various forms, some with better defined spots.

Some close-ups from last week.

Practicing with a 100mm Macro lens. Shutter speed was probably too slow for breezy day, but seemed to give softer colors. Still can't make out features of head & face.

Finally, my yard seems to have passed muster, and the Monarchs have deemed us worthy of their presence! :)

Up close and personal -- not shy at all!

Pardon the uncroppable, ugly mess that are the diseased leaves showering down from the neighbor's side: such is life beneath volunteer hackberries. :/

javiwa, thank you for yours and Dan's beautiful up close photos!

Your flowers javiwa, and the background, passes muster with me too. Leaves are falling everywhere and are mulching the soil for us.

I still have a couple of Monarchs hanging around.

When zooming in on that 3rd photo, there's a great view of the leading edge of the wing, espec on the left side close to the head. I'm away from my computer this week, otherwise I'd enlarge and crop Javiwa's picture to demonstrate. I couldn't get any closer than 4-5 feet myself so hadn't noticed that feature. Wonderous! If only I could afford a 400mm (or so) lens.

Thanks, Dan -- purely beginner's/novice luck on this end, with the help of an incredibly cooperative butterfly, allowing me to get that close. I shot the original pic w/ my iPhone, then zoomed in and grabbed/posted a screenshot.

Oh em Gee!! I thought for sure it came from a high end DSLR. Forget the 400mm lens, I need an iPhone. I remember your post about rescuing earlier generations from wasps; I wouldn't be surprised if you're a legend in the local Monarch pantheon after that. Once again, way to go and let me stop there lest we trivialize the unspoken mysteries of Nature...

Dan: Oh, likely not (legends and pantheons), but I appreciate your supportive words. :) I'm a 'do what we can' and 'every little bit helps' sorta person, but life got hectic after the first two rescue years, and we dropped the ball -- save making sure we kept as many nectar plants around as possible. Officially an empty nester now, I have plenty of free time to get back into it. Though, my garden and butterfly plants are going through a thing right now.

I harvested a couple of eggs (on milkweed branches) the other day and brought them in. Noticed yesterday they were getting darker, and I completely forgot the timetable! Sure enough this morning, new babies in the house!!!

I examined the first leaf and noticed a newly chewed hole...and the egg looked empty!:

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Flipped the leaf over to find:

Close-up (AKA money shot):

Here's the second little guy:

There is an article in Ft.Worth Star Telegram today explaining why we are not seeing very many Monarchs here. The warmer weather up north and winds from the south are keeping them from leaving Canada and northern states. Here is link: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article181040171.html

Interesting article, linda -- thanks for posting this. Hoping they survive the trip down: I'll keep the light on. :)

Fast forward since my November post, I removed the lantana as it really spends the vast majority of summertime NOT in bloom (spider mite issues, and I don't want to spray).

Had spent the past six weeks raising 19 eggs/tiny cats to chrysalis stage...some here:

As I was leaving town for a week and knew these guys might hatch quickly in our warm/hot weather, I hung them all outdoors on the back of a patio chair -- silver curling ribbon to keep away wasps and and hungry anoles.

Released a total of 17 butterflies (w/o me! DH took the pics and reported daily.), but I'm really hoping they'll frequent my yard at least for a bit before journeying off.

I'm headed home today and will very likely start another batch. :) Milkweeds should have recovered from their original stripping by now and flocked with new eggs.

Thanks, mamachile -- I pale in comparison to many, I assure you. But this is such an incredibly gratifying labor of love to be involved in. :)