About ten years ago I was on one of my walks and this time I was on the campus of Old Dominion University after the kids had left for summer break. Everything was pretty much closed down. However, to my delight the Orchid Conservatory was open. It was staffed by one student and the young man invited me in for a tour. I found out that orchids are more prevalent than believed, that we actually have orchids that grow here in Virginia.
After the inside guided tour we went outside. The student pointed out some of the plants that were growing, an assortment of berries and flowers that were for pollinators. There was one straggly bush that I didn’t recognize. It was about four feet tall and mostly bare. He told me it was milkweed. It’s the only plant food for the Monarch butterfly and because of deforestation it’s becoming more difficult for the Monarchs to survive. He didn’t give stats, just that information. I love Monarchs; you know, San Juan Capistrano. I was determined that milkweed would be a part of my gardening scheme. You have to understand that ten years ago my yard was a big mess. When I bought the property, I knew it would take hard work to get it to what my imagination saw. I kid you not, there was pine straw six feet high all along the back fence. By the time I cleared it out I had three basketballs, a football and one soccer ball. All during that time of shaping the yard into what I wanted, I was always on the hunt for milkweed.
About four years ago I found milkweed at a pop-up garden shop. I grabbed one that was in an eight-inch pot and about eight inches high, went home and planted it in the ground. It looked okay but I worried that it wouldn’t live so I went back and purchased another plant. That first winter was pretty tough and I tried not to think much about the milkweed. Spring came and so did the milkweed. I had a viable food source for the Monarchs but they didn’t come. The next year the milkweed didn’t disappoint me but the Monarchs still didn’t come. Last year there were swallowtails all over the parsley and fennel, but no Monarchs on the milkweed. September came and guess who showed up! Finally. They seemed to just pop up out of nowhere all at once and they sure enjoyed the milkweed. Their poop was testament that they were indeed eating machines. There were so many. A few days later the population had diminished and I thought something was eating them up. I ran to the garden shop and purchased a pop-up plant protector and staked it down. By this time there were only four caterpillars left. These four did survive to pupate and emerge. Releasing them was one of my proudest moments. I can do this. I can help increase the Monarch population.
Last year I released my first Monarchs. I also started saving the milkweed seeds and giving them to anyone who wanted to do the same. This year I planted more milkweed but this time I planted it in earthpots. I wanted to have enough milkweed for anyone and everyone who asked for some. It’s a good thing I did. This summer was extremely hot. I worried about the Monarchs coming and had forgotten how late they came the year before. Well, they came. It was already September and I was ready. I had acquired a mesh butterfly cage, floral tubes and a pot trellis with small branches tied onto it. When the caterpillars were large enough for me to see, I cut the stems they were on and put each stem in a floral tube filled with water. This was put into the cage with the trellis. Some of my grandchildren were here for part of the summer. They loved watching those caterpillars. My grandson would squat and watch for long periods of time. Sometimes his forehead would get furrows. He’d tell me who the bullies were because they crawled over the others and yes, he did give them all names.
Unfortunately, the grandchildren had to leave for home before the caterpillars started pupating. A few of the neighborhood kids also came by to watch with the same awe, just staring into the cage and tilting their heads from side to side. No words were necessary. I continued to collect the caterpillars from the plants and put them into the cage and then one day I saw the first chrysalis of many to come. It was the right shape and right color, that pretty, pale green, that I remembered from the year before. They were on their way. Even when I thought there would be no more a few more appeared and I brought them into my setup.
