Congrats, Randy. I'm sure that Amber was a very proud Mama. Can you give me a count of how many eggs that you raised? Was that around April 1st? And, how many Monarchs that you have released? So that I can can let Monarch Watch know about how many second generation that you have released? I did not have near the egg laying that I've had in previous years. But, I did manage to find 6 eggs that I brought in. They are presently making their chrys. You and Marilyn take the prize this spring for the outstanding numbers of egg laying!!! Marilyn did share some of her hungry cats with me. :) I was really surprised how well the Viridis held up as cuttings. The plants that I transplanted last spring happily came up this spring! Did you have success with yours?

How exciting! I'm hoping to be a Monarch mom for the 2nd year, and hoping to raise some BST's for the 1st year. I have been checking the Asclepias and Bronze fennel for eggs - but nothing yet. It was an unusually wet and cool June, so it's not surprising. A lot of my Asclepias is taking a beating in this weather - the A. incarnata (swamp milkweed) is in horrible shape, suffering from both wilt and slugs. Several other species are in rough shape too. Most of the tender young plants are being eaten into sticks by slugs. But I should be able to scrounge enough to feed a few cats. :) Last year there were over a dozen BST cats on the Bronze fennel and 1 on the dill - hoping they will return this year.

Release it! It will be OK. It will find a leaf to take shelter under if it rains. You can see if it will take some sugar water before it goes. Mix 4 parts water to one part sugar. Bring to a boil and let cool. You can soak a paper towel or use one of the plastic scrubbers. If the Monarch doesn't know what to do. Place it on the crumpled paper towel (on a saucer) so the legs touch the sugar water--tasters are in feet! And if it doesn't unroll the proboscis, use a toothpick to gently unroll it so it touches the towel. You are holding it gently but firmly, close to the body while you are doing this. Hope this makes sense. I wrote this out in a hurry as I'm off to practice being a volunteer naturalist.

Linda, Sorry....no photo. DS and DH are at work and I am completely and totally computer-illiterate, camera-to-computer illiterate, etc. I wouldn't know how to upload a photo of me or the garden IF I could find one on one of their cameras, which is doubtful. I don't think their cameras are capable of photographing anything that's NOT on fire. (I know you think I am kidding, but I am not.) It takes every bit of technological skill that I have just to log on, post a message, and log off without unintentionally destroying something on the computer. I'm a old dirt gardener, not a computer or camera whiz. (At least back in "the old days" when I had my little Polaroid Land Camera I could operate it. Now I look at the darned digital thing in hopeless confusion and ask myself "Is it on?") LOL This summer, I was going to get DS's then-fiancee' to show me how to use her digital camera and upload photographs, and then she took a summer job halfway across the state and THEN her pickup truck caught fire with her camera inside. Then, a few weeks later, they broke up.....so I guess I will have to muddle through on my own. I did surprise myself and take a photo of the timber rattlesnake a couple of weeks ago using DH's camera. I don't know what I did or how I did it, but I got a photo. Unfortunately, a photo of a snake that has been shotgunned into oblivion is not very impressive. : ) So, I just kept telling them..."It was this long.....and this big around....." What I really want to know is why those venomous snakes only appear when I am home alone. DH worked outside all day long yesterday....and even looked for snakes.....and didn't find a one. (I suggested his 50-year-old eyes might not see as well as my 49-year-old eyes.) One of these days I'll get DH or DS to give me a lesson in how to use the digital camera and THEN how to upload photos from it to the computer. There's just never a good time.....and, judging from the gray hairs I gave DH when he was teaching me how to load and fire a shotgun (so I could shoot my own poisonous snakes instead of hollering for help), I think he may assign camera/technology duty to DS. I might be able to get a photo of the garden from DS if he has saved some of the ones he's taken over the years, but he's at work until tomorrow (firefighter--24 hour shifts). I just hate it when people say "post a photo" cause I cannot even begin to successfully take a photo, much less do anything with it after I take it. LOL Lots of fires in Love County today, y'all. Very hot for October (90 degrees) with a lot of wind blowing this afternoon and very low humidity (20 per cent). I hope that doesn't negatively affect my chances of seeing monarchs this evening. I need to get back outside. I'm trying to wet down the ground and make puddles for the butterflies and moths. Unfortunately, the ground is so cracked that most of the water is running down the cracks and clear to China. And, yesterday, I had an almost-violent encounter (violent on HER part, not mine) with a doe and a fawn who thought they should be able to walk down the driveway while I was walking up the driveway.....so, when I am butterfly watching in a couple of hours, I guess I need to carry a big stick with me and hope for the best. Linda, as I say so often that I am sure other people are tired of reading it, life here at our place in the country is an adventure....every day it is either a zoo or a circus, and when I wake up in the morning, I never know which one it is going to be. Dawn