Tips from the Llano River on how to find Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars plus a tour of the Texas Hill Country attest to the enduring resilience of native milkweed plants.
Gardening shown to be good for your health according to Aggie study. Butterflies benefit, too, when gardeners apply themselves to providing host plants.
This excellent coverage of the state of the Monarch butterfly [...]
According to Monarch Watch, the citizen scientist program that monitors the Monarch butterfly migration and started the tagging program, monarch caterpillars consume 200x their birthweight in milkweed leaves in about a two-week period. Commercial butterfly breeders suggest that a single caterpillar can easily decimate an entire one-gallon milkweed plant--175 leaves per caterpillar. Of course, it depends on the milkweed you supply. Our native Texas milkweed, Antelope Horns, Asclepias asperula, is much heftier than the Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, found in nuseries right now--like a beef steak compared to lettuce. Yet, when the Monarchs are flying, any milkweed is better than none. Sound impossible? Watch the video.
The San Antonio Chapter of the Native Plant Society [...]
Happy Equinox and the start of Butterfly Season. Monarch butterflies and Eastern Swallowtails are fluttering back into our gardens. Be sure you have milkweed, fennel, parsely, dill and rue to give them something to host on.
Millions of Monarch butterflies are heading to Texas for Spring Break, but who's got milkweed for them to host and nectar on? Fortunately, some local nurseries have "got milkweed" in stock.
On the Monarch butterfly trail in Michoacan, Mexico: butterfly "explosions," pure joy and a promise to see them soon here in Texas as they make their way north on their migratory journey.
Where's the milkweed? Monarch butterflies will be arriving soon and the Boerne chapter of NPSOT will stage a free milkweed workshop next Tuesday. Let's get our gardens ready this spring and put out a welcome mat for migrating Monarch butterflies
Monarch Butterflies rebound in Michoacan, Mexico, doubling their numbers in the past year, but still subject to threat