[quote=Swamp-Cork][quote=angela k]I did read that the females will more times than not, lay their eggs on the small, tender leaves just so they little ones have an easy start when they immediately start to eat... but having those large ones will be good for the big guys, they might last a little longer! One emerged today, but since I wasn't home the entire day, I felt bad leaving it in the tank, so I clipped the chrysalis to a plant and when I came home, he/she was gone.
Hope your van is in tip top shape after the maintenance, so now you can go traveling with your two favorite girls... Ellen and Bella!!
Don't you feel like you're in a Disney movie when you walk around your garden and have butterflies fluttering around you!!! I just love that feeling!!!
The heat wave is supposed to break after the rain on Friday with temps getting into the 70's for the weekend.... perfect temperature!!
Enjoy the rest of the evening, my friend!!! ...hope the door didn't give you a hard time to fix!![/quote
Angela, I had just about finished my reply when I lost virtually everything except about two words, but glad your latest made it, and sorry that you were not there to see it off![ The large Common milkweed will do fine and two of ours that were on their second season were virtually eaten to the ground as they were slow to emerge this year and eggs were deposited on them when they were no more the six to eight inches tall, but suspect that they will come back next season...I think that the van is in petty much squared away now but needed to have some paint chip touched up along with a few other spots that needed attention, and while there had them install complete new headlight assemblies as the plastic lens had become discolored, which restricted the amount of light they emitted at night... I did managed to force the outside door open the next morning and had to do a little filing and replaced some of the weatherstrippings and can see no light, but the bad news is that when we came back from the grocery store this evening found just a little lizard poop on one of the sofa cushions so still must be at least one more...I completely agree about the Disney feeling and think about the butterflies so many times in the cold months and can remember that first trip to Florida in late February and seeing the beautiful butterflies just fluttering along--- what a sight! Glad that the temperatures should moderate (sorry butterflies) as it was really stiffing with very high humidity when we returned this afternoon and hope that conditions will be much better for all of us this weekend! Take care![/quote]


Good morning, Corky!
How I enjoy reading your adventures and sorry for all the mishaps you seem to get when posting... it's happened to me a few times where you type out everything and then it click the wrong buttone, then it's gone!!! You can never get your exact words down a second time! LOL...

I just watched a couple of videos on planting common milkweed.... do you suggest starting the seeds on a wet paper towel and in a plastic bag, or did you plant them right into the ground (which is what I was planning on doing) and if you did plant in the ground... do you plant each seed or just toss some in the dirt?? The videos said the root system is very strong on that plant and that most of the time it will return the next year.... but it also said that the mature plant will take at least 3 years before it flowers. I don't even care about the flowers, I will just use the leaves for food.

OH NO... I hope you don't have to out smart another lizard... or even worse, a bunch of babies!!!

We had one heck of a storm last evening... Buster wouldn't stop barking and the thunder and lightening was right over head!! Today looks cloudy and we might get some more passing showers... thankfully no butterflies emerged this morning... scratch that, just checked on them because I'm waiting for one that is in JHook to make his chrysalis (still hasn't) and I see one chrysalis turning black, so it might emerge today after all, making this #37!! Still 16 chrysalis to go plus about 10 cats to get there!!

Enjoy the day and it looks like we might be getting cooler weather for the weekend!!!
...forgot to mention about my Maypop plant! It's about 3feet tall, still in a pot and it's climbing up a bamboo stake, but nothing else is going on with it. Do they ever branch off and get fuller??

Take care!!

Many thanks, my friend!! ...as of this morning, I have released 36 with 16 in chrysalis and about 10 more hungry mouths to feed!! This was a banner year for Monarchs in my garden!!

Many thanks, Rob, for your always kind comments throught out my years on the UHH.... I will miss all my wonderful friends I've made on here, but I still keep in touch with many of them... if you are on Flickr, you can follow me on there.
Take care and keep clicking!!

I did read that the females will more times than not, lay their eggs on the small, tender leaves just so they little ones have an easy start when they immediately start to eat... but having those large ones will be good for the big guys, they might last a little longer! One emerged today, but since I wasn't home the entire day, I felt bad leaving it in the tank, so I clipped the chrysalis to a plant and when I came home, he/she was gone.
Hope your van is in tip top shape after the maintenance, so now you can go traveling with your two favorite girls... Ellen and Bella!!
Don't you feel like you're in a Disney movie when you walk around your garden and have butterflies fluttering around you!!! I just love that feeling!!!
The heat wave is supposed to break after the rain on Friday with temps getting into the 70's for the weekend.... perfect temperature!!
Enjoy the rest of the evening, my friend!!! ...hope the door didn't give you a hard time to fix!!

Someone told me, the more milkweed you have, the more eggs you will find!!! Next year I'm limiting myself on the amount of eggs and cats I bring inside... this was a lot of work and now I'm getting nervous with the number of leaves I have left!! One of the hoggers is sending me some of his milkweed seeds.... on the pictures he showed me, those leaves are huge, not at all like my tender thin ones, so I'm planting them along with mine.... looks like one of those leaves might last them a long time!!
I'm so happy for you that you're seeing more butterflies.... seeing them does make the heart sing!!!

I woke up to two more chrysalis this morning.... which makes #17, but one will emerge while I'm away today. I hope it doesn't stress too much from being left inside for that long. I heard that the last that emerge in September are the ones that travel to Mexico!!
Enjoy the day and stay cool... another hot one!!

Your stories are so enjoyable to read and always an adventure!!! ...but scary!!! I wouldn't even know what a copperhead snake looks like, but thankfully you did and were careful to get rid of it!!!! I don't want to know the details on how you killed it, but glad you did!!!!!
I bet you're glad you bought 6 new milkweed plants this year... I wish I had bought more than the three, but with the other two I thought 5 would be good... but the leaves are getting few and far between.. with still about 10 more cats to grow and I found another 4 eggs!!!

Are you finding any eggs on the leaves?? I think this hot weather has super-charged them into laying more!!!

Take care, my dear friend and stay cool... looks like a hot week in store and hope you are nowhere near the hurricane down south!!

LOL.... I do enjoy reading your stories, Corky... I got scared with the bad news after reading you captured one lizard, I thought you were going to say that the other got squished!!!... Thankfully you captured them both safely and relocated them... let's just hope while your door was left open, that other critters didn't set up residency in your sunroom!!! Hope you are able to fix the door issue without much trouble... dealing with issues on a hot day always makes things worse!!!
So happy you are seeing butterflies and found some cats!!!! Hope you have enough milkweed and parsley to feed them.... my leaves are starting to go down fast and I still have a bunch of munching cats to go... yesterday while picking leaves for their dinner, I picked a 2nd instar cat... so that's another one that made it safely inside!!

Take care and keep cool... thankfully I don't have the boys today, meeting a friend for a bit then coming home to stay cool!

I think you are too hard on yourself when it comes to your photography... I'm sure the picture is beautiful, so let Ellen post it on FB so I can see!! Four hours on yard work is rough, I know... we did that today too, but thankfully it wasn't that hot out!!
How on earth are you going to catch those two little rascals... thankfully you can keep them contained in the sunroom!!
Hope you both enjoy the rest of the weekend and sending belly rubs for Bella!!

Thanks so much!

Thanks Kathy... as of this Saturday morning, I have 16 in chrysalis and about 10 or so to feed!! A very productive season for me!

I wish I would see some Orioles or Bluebirds... but I will always remember Phil for his love of nature and his fur-babies....

Oh my, you didn't find the lizards yet!! How is Ellen when she sees them, I would love to see them in my garden.... but not show up in my bed!!LOL...
No rain here, but they are saying maybe tonight and tomorrow. 20 degree drop in temps today... If it stayed in the 70's all year, I'd be a happy camper!!

Enjoy the weekend and I'm thrilled I get Monday off and don't have to watch the boys!!!

#28 & 29 emerged this morning with 13 in chrysalis and still a lot more to do their thing!!!

Take care...

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Thanks, tc, I appreciate your comment!!

Thanks Larry... you should definitely plant them and they will come!! I'd offer you some seeds, but so many people wanted them, the cupboard is bare!!
Take care and enjoy the last of August!!

Thank you.... it really is amazing to see in person and last year I was able to video a cat transforming into it's chrysalis... blew my mind!!