I am just starting to plant my 1st hummingbird-butterfly garden for the first time. Ty for all the great info, so helpful. I am so happy to be aboard.😊
My son loves bubbles. It’s one of the first words he ever said- But bubble soap is not fun to work with, and isn’t great for the environment. Milkweed seed pod duff makes a a fantastic replacement for bubbles. You let the pods dry in a canvas shopping bag, and whenever you go out to wait for the bus, grab the bag and let those milkweed seed duffs fly all over! I started doing this years ago, and milkweed has naturally seeded in my yard. It never grew there before. For years, monarchs have laid eggs and caterpillars have grown-but all of them disappear before making it to cocoon. It was heartbreaking watching them disappear one by one. Something must be eating them. So I’ve begun to harvest any baby caterpillars I find each year, carefully bring them inside to my terrarium where I keep moist paper towels and fresh milkweed leaves, and raise any monarch caterpillar I find. I’ve raised them to butterflies and released them-and it’s such a joy. They cling to you at first, and don’t want to let go for hours. The next day they tend to be ready to fly away-and flutter off with a bit of loving encouragement. The first one returned to say hi several days later. I took pictures of its wings and matched the pattern to my monarch-and it brought me such joy. I will always grow milkweed, and host as many monarchs as I can. Lovely video. Thanks for sharing.
What a beautiful story! I once read a startling statistic that, in the wild, only a few percent of the butterfly eggs that are laid make it all the way to adulthood. It's staggering how much predation these species have to endure. Typically that would be fine because abundance would be present in both plants and insects. But now that these species are approaching critically low numbers, it's hard to imagine only a few percent of the eggs making it through pupation. I recently discovered a woman who posts her interactions with jumping spiders, and it's stunning to watch how they react to her voice. I think we only barely understand how amazing all the other species on this planet are, and it sounds like you're cultivating a beautiful garden and a beautiful relationship with the monarchs! Thank you so much for this beautiful comment! 💕
A mosquito and tick spray company just sent a mailing begging our support. I noticed the spray is safe for people, pets, shrubs and trees. They didn’t (DID NOT) mention caterpillars, bees and other beneficial insects. There’s a phone number on the flyer; May give a call and ask some pointed questions. Nice video.
Sadly I fear they may not even really know the impact. I don't know much about the training required to be licensed in use of these kinds of chemicals, but I'd be surprised if it included much on environmental impact. I remember seeing somewhere (maybe a podcast, I'll try to dig it up!) that the amount of the mosquito spray that actually goes toward killing mosquitos is so low that it's also just not an economically efficient means of control. I've been meaning to find that source and share the info from it, as they offered several more effective alternatives!
Wow i lesrned a lot of interesting facts. Great video. Didn't know insecticide is getting into the rain and we're very short of a lot of native milkweed plantings
Yeah, the situation for Monarchs is getting pretty rough, sadly. 😞 Making plans for, and finally starting my own little Monarch garden has helped me to stay positive a bit!
