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Our season started 4/7/10 with the swamp milkweed sprouting from last year. Because of the losses during the harsh Mexican winter, we did not expect to see many monarchs. However, that has not proved to be the case. I planted lots of milkweed and the monarchs have found it!
This year’s study investigates which milkweeds the monarchs prefer and which milkweeds grow the best in our yard. Last year we have noticed they seem to like tropical milkweed. I have read that someone referred to it as candy for monarchs and suggested it be banned from some of the Southern states as it may interfere with migration. It may take a year or 2 to find our which milkweeds grow best. Still, we should be able to draw some general conclusions by the end of the summer.
As in 2009, before each butterfly is released, we are checking it for Oe using a Celestron 44340 microscope. We are using the tape method as shown on the Testing page of the Monarch Parasite website. I afix the monarch tape print to a glass slide. This year I will move the tape to an index card and send it to this group for their records.
I keep all of our data on spreadsheets. As each monarch is released or dies, I enter the data on the sheets and on the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) website, which is one of a handful of monitoring projects that monarch enthusiasts can be involved in to aid research. This year we are also monitoring the milkweed in our yard. Below you will find links so you can view my monarch and milkweed spreadsheets.
1st Milkweed sighting: 4/7/10 I found the swamp milkweed growing in our yard.
1st Milkweed blooming: 5/30/10 The common milkweed started to bloom locally. A few days later the poke and butterfly milkweeds were blooming in my yard.
1st Monarch Butterfly sighting: 5/5/10 I almost ran over one while mountain biking at Valley Forge. The 1st siting in our yard was 6/26/10.
1st Monarch Egg or Larva sighting: 6/20/10 We found the first egg at Valley Forge. The 1st eggs in our yard were found 6/26/10.
Size: ½ acre. Type: suburban gardens and lawn. Sun and shade. Planting zone 6.
Below are photos of the gardens that are mentioned on my monitoring spreadsheet. Throughout my gardens you will find hostas of various types (Sum and Substance is my favorite), lily of the valley, chameleon plant (highly invasive - watch where you plant this one), evening primrose (the bright yellow flowers in the photos below, which bloom the first 2 weeks of June), treefoil, daylilies, rudebeckia, roses, bleeding hearts, iris, rose of sharon, bee balm, azaleas, lemon balm, coneflowers and others. Wild plants that came with our property that I have encouraged in my gardens include ajuga, Virginia bluebells, sensitive ferns, jack-in-the-pulpit, touch-me-nots, and violets. For the most part, we let biodiversity rule in respect to the lawn. I only remove thistles and poison ivy (Joel and Shane are very allergic to poison ivy). Sometimes we treat it with lime, so the moss does not take over too much.
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Fence Garden: Currently the milkweed in this bed includes swamp, purple, butterfly, common, redring and tropical. The yellow flowers are the evening primose. Although they are invasive, they are easy to remove. We look forward to seeing them light up our yard every year. |
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House Garden: At the moment, only a few tropical milkweed plants are growing here. This garden winds around the whole house. |
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Rose Garden: This flower bed gets the most sun. There used to be a dozen roses growing in this bed, but now I am down to 2. The pink one that you see on the left is Tiffany. Japanese iris are hiding the butterfly house, which the butterflies have never used. At the end of the season, I am going to move the iris and daylilies out of the this garden to make room for more milkweed. I may dig a new garden behind this one for milkweed also. Common, Hall’s, showy, Davis, swamp, tropical and butterfly milkweeds are in this garden. |
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Mailbox Garden: The darker yellow flowers are Stella d'Oro daylilies. The light yellow ones are evening primrose. I have swamp and butterfly milkweed growing in this garden. I tried tropical milkweed last year, but it was a bit too shady and dry for it to do well. |
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Milkweed Garden: Planted at the end of July 2010 with milkweed I raised from seed in the greenhouse. While there are a few other plants, like an impatien border, this garden is primarily for the monarchs and added over 200 milkweed plants to the yard. So far, the monarchs have given this garden a 2 wings up and have been laying eggs like crazy. |
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Steet Garden: This garden boasts a Scalet Meidiland® hedge (the Mailbox Garden also has a few bushes), which is only supposed to grow 3-4 foot high, but grows 6-8 foot high in my yard. I get many compliments on the roses from the neighbors. Milkweeds include common, butterfly, swamp, tropical and poke. |
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Patio Garden: Most of our azaleas surround our patio. Milkweeds include butterfly, swamp, and tropical. Our greenhouse is to the left of the photo. The small pot in the photo has parsley for the black swallowtails. In the background you can see our compost pile. |
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Shed Garden: By the end of the summer morning glories will be growing on the trellis. Milkweeds include butterfly, showy, tropical, and swamp. |
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Chimney Garden: Planted at the end of August 2010. As long as I keep watering it, the milkweeds should develope strong enough roots to survive the winter. Milkweeds include poke, eastern purple, narrowleaf, spider, desert, whorled, Davis, tropical and a mystery milkweed. The mystery milkweeds were in with the prairie seed, but they do not look like prairie; they look more like eastern purple. |
Data for this site is submitted to the MLMP website and you can check it out: Valerie’s Garden at MLMP.
In addition to the 4 types of milkweed we had last year, we have introduced some different varieties to the yard to see which the butterflies like and which grow best in our yard. Tropical milkweed and goose milkweed are the only tender perennials (our winters are too cold) in our yard that we have to bring in doors as plants or cuttings for the winter. As I get photos of them, they will be added to the Milkweed page. This year we will be monitoring our milkweed for MLMP (project 4A only - I started to do 4B, but I am not going to have time). While I could stop monitoring after checking 30 plants, I am choosing to check them all for my own curiosity and a more thorough study. You can view the Excel sheets that I use to collect the milkweed characteristics for MLMP: Milkweed Study 2010. When I upload revised Excel sheets, I will post a notice on Facebook and Twitter. If you are not savvy with Excel, note that there are different tabs at the bottom to click on for different worksheets. If you wish to copy the format of my Excel sheets for your own milkweed monitoring, feel free to do so.
Excel Viewer Download If you do not have Excel, but wish to view the spreadsheets, you can download this free viewer from Microsoft.
Currently our milkweed collection includes 350 milkweed plants of a variety of species. Most of these were planted in July as seedlings. Some of the 26 species and subspecies are listed below. For a full listing, see the Milkweed Species tab on Milkweed Study 2010. As noted on the spreadsheet, not all of these are tracked by MLMP for the milkweed study. I include them in the Monarch Density study, however.
| Common Name | Latin Name |
| butterfly | Asclepias tuberosa |
| swamp | Asclepias incarnata |
| common | Asclepias syriaca |
| tropical | Asclepias curassavica |
| prairie | Asclepias sullivantii |
| purple | Asclepias purpurascens |
| showy | Asclepias speciosa |
| Davis | Asclepias speciosa ‘ Davis’ |
| redring | Asclepias variegata |
| poke or tall | Asclepias exaltata |
| Hall’s | Asclepias hallii |
Instead of posting an extensive data summary on this website for 2010, you can view my Excel sheet: Monarch Study 2010 When I upload revised Excel sheets, I will post a notice on Facebook and Twitter. The spreadsheets are set up to collect data for MLMP and Monarch Watch tagging. If you are not savvy with Excel, note that there are different tabs at the bottom to click on for different worksheets. Much of this data will be submitted to the MLMP website and you can check it out under the above links for each site. If you wish to copy the format of my Excel sheets for your own monarch monitoring, feel free to do so. There is also a tab for other insects that we have collected and raised.
Excel Viewer Download If you do not have Excel, but wish to view the spreadsheets, you can download this free viewer from Microsoft.
Below are a few key notes of interest as of 8/29/10
Number of Eggs Collected: 194
Number of Larvae Collected: 55
Number of Butterflies Released: 53
Monarchs are tagged starting in August when the golden rod blooms. Apparently, the changes in temperature cause changes in their body structure and the ones born at the end of the summer are the ones that will migrate south.
The tags we used are numbered: NBN-100 through NBN-299
| Reared and Released: Total Tagged | Catch and Release: Total Tagged |
Total Tagged |
| 33 | 7 | 40 |