This is a great thread to keep going. I observed the same springtime gap in blossoms that many have mentioned. Dianthus do bloom at the perfect time, so I've been trying to plant them, but haven't had much luck getting them to grow. This year I may just buy some plants and be done with it. I would encourage anyone who has the space, to grow as much Common Milkweed as possible. It is a great nectar source and is the primary species of milkweed that Monarchs depend upon. Because it spreads via the root system, it can bounce back even after being tilled into the ground. Prior to the widespread use of Round-Up, 90% of the milkweed used by Monarchs was growing between the rows of crops and along the roads. Since Round-Up and since the increase in the value of corn for production of ethanol, the availability of milkweed has dropped precipitously throughout the entire Midwest. This is threatening the existence of the miraculous migration. Monarchs will continue to exist in the south and west, but may disappear from the rest of North America. I apologize if I'm preaching to the choir, but I try to spread the word when I can. Hope everyone is having a blessed holiday season. Martha

Congrats butterflutter! The tigers are usually the first butterflies I see here. Them and Cabbage Whites. The tigers love to nectar on our lilac bushes and sometimes I can count at least half a dozen on a bush. I haven't raised any though. There is a woods beside us, so I imagine that they have their pick of trees in there to lay their eggs on. I hope that you continue to see the tiger swallowtails. They are a beautiful butterfly. Cathy

"Funny Sherry I was wondering the same thing about inbreeding, never have seen any mention of it when reading about captive breeding." When I showed up here almost 7 years ago, I took some people to task about the way they were releasing large numbers of inbred giant silk moths. That went over like a lead weight so I have pretty much kept my mouth shut since then. Ladobe criticized one of our members about it last year but no one followed up on it. The quote was "Besides weakening the gene pool, forced inbreeding produces low egg viability, high malformation risk and so therefore high mortality. Not a good practice." One consequence of moth inbreeding helped cause a shift in USDA policy last month. The USDA no longer regulates interstate shipments of Bombyx mori. Those moths are so inbred they can no longer survive in the wild. I raise relatively large numbers (up to 400 of one type) of Saturniidae every year. I go to great lengths to try to make sure the wild males that my girls mate with are not the brothers or the male first cousins that I released. I also try to make sure my released males and females do not mate with each other. I do this by doing releases at least 10 miles (usually more) from my house and releasing the females and males at least 10 miles (usually more) away from each other. I used to mark my males to make sure they were not finding their way home but quit being that paranoid after years of never getting one back. I release at least 10 miles away because 7 miles seems to be the generally accepted maximum distance that a male Saturniidae can follow a female's pheromones. That said, I have seen a claim that male giant silk moths can follow female pheromones for "nearly 30" miles. YMMV I preface my next statement by saying I have no clue how this guy operates. There is a guy in Ohio that raises 3k-4k cecropias each year. I read that he has been raising them since '86. Something wiped out his cats in 2008 and he had to start over in 2009. I'm real curious if inbreeding affected his setup and I'd like to know what happens to all the moths he doesn't sell (IOW, do they get let go). As for inbreeding butterflies and affecting the gene pool, there is a lot of info/controversy on the net about it because of people raising butterflies for mass release at weddings. One related article I have posted before is linked at the end of this post. Last thought: I know of one inbred butterfly that has been studied a lot: monarchs on Hawaii. I believe around 20% of them are white now. My guess is they do alright because the favorable weather conditions don't put a lot of stress on them. They would probably have trouble with migrating to Mexico and surviving the winters there. Anyway, there is a lot of research out there about them. KC Here is a link that might be useful: All Aflutter

I have not seen any flying around here in Mass yet, but I just released the first BST yesterday, which was a small male, out of a group of 6 chrysalises that over wintered outside in a mesh sleeve. The sleeve is hanging on the northeast corner of the house so the chrysalises are taking their cues from nature as to when to emerge. The Mass. Audubon buttefly atlas says their usual flight period in this state starts in mid-May, so May 1st seems somewhat early. We've had a stretch of pretty warm and dry weather, maybe that's why a butterfly emerged so early. Hope he can find a female to mate with!