Saturday, October 11, 2014

Monarch Butterflies


Unlike last year, when I saw a grand total of 2 Monarch butterflies, I am seeing a lot of Monarch butterflies this year. They especially love Buddleia 'Potter's Purple'. On Wednesday I saw as many as 15 the two butterflies bushes in the big bed. They must have fueled up and moved on, as I didn't see many again until today.

















Why were there so few last year and seemingly normal numbers this year I wonder?


14 comments:

  1. Your photos are just gorgeous! I am seeing more this year also--a good sign.

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  2. Your photos are fantastic and I love not only those beautiful butterflies and flowers, but also the lighting is perfect. I really need to get going next year on planting more butterfly and bee plants.

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  3. The monarchs seem to be thriving in your garden. The photos are lovely!

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  4. Beautiful photos! We rarely get them here in the PNW.

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  5. I've never seen a better advertisement for growing Buddleja! Beautiful photos.

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  6. WOW, what fabulous photos! The colors of flowers and the butterflies are wonderful together.

    FlowerLady

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  7. Not only are your photos fantastic, Sweet Bay, but I am so thrilled to hear you have so many more Monarchs this year! That is good news indeed! I thought they had left our area a couple of weeks ago, but I've seen a straggler or two several times in the last few days. My husband talks about when he was younger seeing trees in the fall that looked as if their leaves had turned orange, but were actually covered in Monarchs making their migration. That was before all the pesticides killed the milkweeds, of course. There's nothing as beautiful as a Monarch!

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  8. Fabulous photos ! You must have endless patience ! What beautiful butterflies, wish we had them here in the uk!

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  9. Your photos are stunning! I have always loved monarchs for the graceful beauty of their stained glass wings. I am glad you have seen so many this year. Did you recently introduce their host plant, asclepias, into your garden? I have not seen a single monarch this year. I planted several milkweeds, but they all died! I will try again.

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  10. Such beautiful photos - and great news about the increase in Monarchs in your garden.

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  11. Thank you everyone for your comments! Deb, there has always been common milkweed here, and several years ago I added swamp milkweed to the garden. The Monarchs mostly seem to stop to refuel as they pass through in the fall, although I have seen cats eating swamp milkweed 'Ice Ballet'. In fact that's the only milkweed that I have actually seen monarch cats feeding on, and they eat it down to a nub. They really like that one for some reason.

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  12. Beautiful photos. Our Monarchs are gone, but it's nice to see they have moved on to nice accommodations.

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  13. These butterflies are just so beautiful and you captured them perfectly with your camera! Whatever the reason is, I am glad to read that the number of Monarchs have increased in your garden again in comparison to last year. Butterflies seem to be so endangered everywhere, so it is great news that you can report that they have become more again at least in your garden. Your post just reminded me to plant a butterfly bush in my own little garden. Warm regards,
    Christina

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  14. I enjoyed seeing your monarch photos. It was fun to have a number of them here this fall as well. The most I counted in a day was 13. I don't remember how long it had been since I'd seen any, until today, I was surprised to see two of them! I wonder if they will make it to Mexico.

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