#southjersey – IMAGES OF LIFE

November 14, 2022

Butterfly Journey – Final Thoughts (Part VI)

During this past season of my Butterfly Journey I have learned so much from my gardening experiences and raising Monarchs. The early spring news concerning butterflies and bees was very dark and ominous. In the previous year (2021), California butterfly studies reported extreme losses during migratory and other seasonal counting prompting Endangered Species Act petitions and requests to the Department of Fish and Game to add more protections. The Xerces Society, an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats, was very proactive in this approach. Further news concerned habitat loss on our east coast migratory Monarchs wintering locations located in the mountainous region of central/south Mexico known as the Oyamel Fir Forests region. It was also made known through various news sources that bees and butterflies were suffering various other challenges from disease and many habitat loss issues here in North America. More so was the reason we worked hard this year to provide sanctuary and habitat in our gardens for our pollinator friends.

One of the more ominous and dark reports concerning butterflies made it’s way through the internet and worldwide news agencies in early 2020. A logger, turned Monarch Conservationist in El Rosario, Mexico, had been murdered. Admittedly, I have only just learned this while traversing the internet in recent months while looking for information concerning migratory news. Homero Gómez González, raised in a forest logging family, had learned about the environment that supported his family and the villages surrounding him. Through education, he came to the belief that saving the forest used by the Monarchs was much more important and could be economically rewarding as a replacement toward a new way of life for the people who lived from it’s use. He was the director of the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, a component of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, located in Mexico. Although news features published information regarding his disappearance at first, followed by confirmation of his demise once found, a murky storyline continues to exist. Crime and politics aside, if you read into the story by learning through the websites concerning the sanctuaries located in Mexico, you learn that Homero was an incredible influence that was met by a resistance to our changing world. As we watch natural resources taken away by short sighted views so too was this natural resource now extinct. Just my opinion. But truly a sad story of good ideology not accepted for change, want of money or other corruption.

**Image courtesy of Gloria Felix** (Instagram Post Copy)

The good part concerning Monarchs? Well, they are still here! Hopefully to stay in our lives as many non profit organizations and government entities continue to realize and address our shortcomings for pollinators such as the Monarch. I know in my home state, a few roadways that have ample space such as landscaped dividing areas have been cared for. Constructed non-paved roadway areas are being used to grow natural plantings and native flowers for the purposes of helping our pollinator friends. These areas are left to grow naturally during the spring and summer season. Blooms are abundant and the colorful display dances along the roadway as the travelers pass by. So many projects do continue throughout North America in some manner of providing habitat and space for monarchs and other pollinators. Hopefully, this is a sign of continued effort to not pave over everything around us.

In contemplating all of our activities throughout the past season, I think mostly about the fleeting moments. Regardless of the work involved whether it was digging in the dirt, trimming growth or just cleaning things up, I focused on butterflies emerging. The instant color that comes to life and unfolds before your eyes is really something to behold. It makes all the work a worthwhile cause for that fleeting moment of beauty. All the little things along the way, be it the visits from our Box Turtles or a spurt of colorful mushrooms after the rain all add up to my own experiences in our garden.

Taking a pause while pulling weeds to watch the bees dance between blooms and hummingbirds darting about is a little “Disneyesque,” to describe it, but it is from my own real creation and care that creates the moments of visual acuity that we enjoy throughout our gardening season. Away from the distractions in life, the garden leads you to a safe space of enjoyment and relaxation as you sit back and slowly observe all the little activities that can go on throughout the summer lifecycle.

I hope that in reading these short blog entries, others may become inspired to find enjoyment in gardening and quite possibly rearing butterflies. I can say that through our small efforts, my wife inspired a worldwide corporation eco challenge idea-center/roundtable to create pollinator landscaping for monarchs and other butterflies throughout their corporate land holdings. If I am fortunate to follow up on this I will most certainly record the development here on my blog site. In the meantime, I will be planning some more small expansion in our yard and continuing winter care in our current garden spaces as I await the quiet winter season and coming of spring. Thank you for reading and do think about getting your hands dirty next year!

A Huge Thank You to Artist Gloria Felix!! for the use of the above image. Ms. Felix is a professional Visual Development and Background artist from Mexico with a very extensive resume for good reason! The wonderful portrait of Homero Gómez González above was created by Ms. Felix in remembrance of the man that was the face of the El Rosario Butterfly Preserve, Mexico. My wish is that in reading my butterfly blog entries, more people will get involved in caring for the world around us!

Until next time!

October 29, 2022November 13, 2022

Butterfly Journey – Part V

Nature is beautiful in so many ways. To find it, you just have to look around and see what the world is offering from the infinite palette of colors and shapes revealed before your eyes. I always appreciated flowers and the wonderful bounty of their colors throughout the year. As my garden exploits continued to grow I noticed everything around the flowers. Bees, butterflies, and insects galore revealed more colors than the flowers. My interest in seeing the Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies visit and use the garden narrowed my focus and that is when raising them began.

*Collecting Monarch eggs, how it begins!*

There is ample information found throughout the internet and printed literature regarding butterflies and in particular Monarchs. I did read and take many notes to assist with collecting and caring for butterfly eggs. If embarking on this journey as I have, do read and build your knowledge for the best results! Of course, while learning, there is always trial and error moments. Just as I have said, learning by doing and taking the time to use your own hands on advantage will help to guide you. In the above photo, the Monarch eggs were carefully selected and saved in a lined plastic container. The damp towel helps lengthen the lifespan of the cut milkweed leaves. Trial by learning resulted in this method of egg collection after several different, albeit careful, storage solutions. It takes a few days for the eggs to hatch, therefore, the longer the milkweed lasts the fresher the food source when they hatch. The caterpillars start munching away immediately once they emerge from the shell. As I stated in an earlier entry, after we observe the Monarchs landing on the milkweed leaves we then go out and collect by turning the leaves over to locate them. They are clipped to the size shown for space saving and orderly arrangement as they will all hatch at different times. The leftover clipped leaves are not thrown away but given to any caterpillars currently hatched and feeding. I hate wasting the leaves even though I have an abundance of plants.

After the hatch, the smallest are then fed regularly with fresh leaves everyday. Depending on how fast they grow we may separate by size as they really compete for personal space while actively eating. Once we decide it is time to move from a hatchling container, a regular clothing basket with soft sides is used. Laid on it’s side allows us to zip open for ease and give access to clean and replenish leaves as they are devoured or dry out before being consumed. They eat, sleep, grow, eat, sleep and so on. But it is a blast watching them munch away and they grow faster than you would expect. It really helps to know where wild milkweed is growing in areas nearby as replenishment for food can be difficult when not enough milkweed is available in your own garden. Once the process of feeding caterpillars has begun, clean and fresh leaves are paramount in keeping them healthy and moving to their chrysalis stage.

Monarch caterpillars quickly plump up as they reach their last stage before climbing to find a place to change into the chrysalis stage. Once they are finished feeding, they will find a place to attach and begin a process sometimes called hanging in “J,” before shedding their skin becoming a chrysalis.

Occasionally, as they begin to gather and cross paths while looking for a location they will eventually attach themselves, caterpillars will make contact. As they confront each other some will look like they are hitting or attacking. This aggressive action usually ends when they eventually move apart. However, some will continuously joust and if we are watching we will move to separate them for our own peace of mind. As the image above shows, many will attach near each other and these groupings can get disturbed when the caterpillars begin fighting for space or a passageway to move forward. On a rare occasion we have had to re-attach a fallen chrysalis from one of these encounters.

*Hatched and tagged before the journey to Mexico!*

During the summer, Monarch butterflies will have several generations of hatching as we collect eggs. Toward the end of the summer as fall approaches the wings of the butterflies are much larger than the earlier summer hatchlings. This noticeable change is when they are ready to travel for migration. By this time we have pretty much collected our final eggs and we now wait for the final chrysalis to open. The above image shows a tagged Monarch, with our registered Monarch Waystation identification number, as it awaits to be released. As a side note, Information regarding tagging via Monarchwatch.org can be found on the web. A remarkable program that informs and helps to continue the study and preservation of Monarch Butterflies is a great source of information that I follow to keep informed.

2022 was a very busy season as we released well over two hundred Monarchs back into the world. Along with the Monarchs, quite a large group of Swallowtail Butterflies joined along. It is a bit of work, some scrambling and innovating. But, with the beauty of the flower garden, the Monarch rearing just adds to the rewards. In my final entry to follow, I will add a few notes regarding Monarchs as well as some final thoughts on this past season of my Butterfly Journey!

October 19, 2022October 19, 2022

Butterfly Journey – Part IV

*Early Spring Swallowtail that emerged after overwintering in our garden*

During the early spring, gardeners of course begin cleaning and prepping areas for the emerging growth to come. This will provide for a more clear vision of what you would like to see in your planting spaces. By realizing your spaces and where you would like to see plants, the summer care will be much easier to maintain as far as weeding and pruning. As the spring then progresses toward summer and plants begin to fill in, adjustments to space and needs for the plantings desired are easier managed. It’s all just part of maintaining a garden in general. The more time spent caring for the plants and planting space, the easier it is to adjust and work within that space. Basically, keep your hands dirty, it’s worth it in the end.

One of our early ideas for this growing season was to establish an area for just Milkweeds or natural host plants for butterflies without major nectar or food suppliers. These are the plants needed for the butterflies to lay their eggs. The above image shows four different milkweed plantings that include a native selection and even one so named butterfly weed! We also placed two Joe Pye-weed plantings as well as they are also in the milkweed family. Although they are all flowering plants, the thought was to see if we could draw egg laying to this small selection of plants as opposed to the scattering of areas throughout our yard. Time will tell if we will see any different butterfly activity during the year as these plants start to establish.

Further preparations led us to increase the amount of nectar proving plants that we have identified as used by monarchs when in our garden. Zinnia, Tithonia and Phlox were grown from seed in abundance. Our observations would reveal these choices for our garden after trying quite a few different flowers through the years. All are great bloomers and fill in the garden very nicely. Along with plenty of color, these flowers will supply needed nutrients for the butterflies as well as many species of bees. Planting in a few different areas of our garden would give a few spaces for easing competition between butterflies and bees. At times we would watch them compete, in years past, while feeding and our hope was to spread the wealth to a few areas. By having this myriad of nectar plants we could see a better balance as we added a large amount of milkweed plants in contrast as well.

*Crocosmia is a favorite early bloomer drawing in the travelling hummingbirds passing through!*

Other considerations were both time and season of bloom for our plantings. Early season bloomers like the above Crocosmia and Torch Lilly (Tritoma), are two of our early season choices. Hummingbirds are generally the first to utilize these plants as they appear before most butterflies in our planting zone. Other annuals can also be used as we sometimes choose a few for planters to also support our visitors while adding a little color. In all, you can not go wrong in just being active and planting a garden with the idea of assisting the pollinating insects you wish to attract. Everything else will follow as you grow and learn with each thing you do to improve the habitat around your home, business or wherever you wish to build a natural space. Flowers are fun. The flying stuff you attract will hopefully be your reward with as much color and amazement as the things you grow!

*Letting our butterflies know where to stop!*

In my next segment, I will discuss collecting butterfly eggs and the process of keeping them until released back into the world. It’s a little bit of work to collect and keep butterfly eggs, but as I have said before, really worth it just for the amazing visuals you get. The true reward, I hope, is that by working to help release butterflies back into the world it also benefits the need in nature for pollination.

May 28, 2022

Butterfly Journey – Part III

One of the many parts of my journey included learning about the host Plant that supports these wonderfully patterned Monarch butterflies. Milkweed, though named, is not a weed at all! In fact, this plant which is native in many countries throughout the world has been a valuable asset even beyond the insect world. As with gardening and general plant knowledge, learning a little about this species of plant goes a long way in helping to provide for the Monarch Butterfly as well as other insects. I’ll try to relate how our garden has grown through it’s use for the butterflies without pushing the scientific jargon and studies. I read about tha stuff for you, sorta boring, so I’ll save you the reader from mind numbing blithery. But I swear the plant itself is not boring for my own practical use and discussion!

My garden is geographically located in the Northeast part of the United States. Native to my garden location when speaking about milkweed are the type known as “common” or “Swamp” milkweed. Asclepias, the Scientific name ( and yes I am slipping that name in here!), correctly identifies the general name for milkweed. Over 200 species of milkweed are identified on three continents. Interesting to note, milkweed or parts of the plant were used for medicinal purposes by native Americans. Another little known use was the silk strands from the seed pods. They were collected and used for additives in winter jackets as a form of insulation. Other uses have been the harvest of both the plant or silk strands for creating small cords or rope making. Many studies were conducted regarding the white milky latex from the plant as well. For my purpose, I just needed to know that the butterflies wanted fresh leaves, and bunches of them during their various life cycles. I’m easy like that.

I identified nearby locations where milkweed was growing naturally in native areas near me. Parks, fields and even the sides of roads. I also visited a nearby nursury and garden center that specialized in providing native plants for my geographical location with a specialty for butterflies. We planted several purchased plants and even transplanted a few plants from a neighbor’s garden into our own garden areas. The care is easy and really just includes watering and maintining a watchful eye for weeds and harmful insects . Once established, the plants regenerate fairly easily and will fill in areas quite nicely. The blooms support many bees and wasps more than butterflies. As long as you are not allergic to bees, a fun and interesting assortment of bees will dance across the blooms all day long. It’s quite interesting to see a bountiful variety of sizes and colors as they fly around collecting nector. Other beetles and insects will also appear when milkweed blooms as this cycle of life provides much needed sustanance to many species of insects.

When speaking of Monarchs regarding milkweed, think food source. The leaves provide a meal for the Monarch catarpillers as they grow big and plump before heading to their cocoon or chrysalis cycle of life. The leaves are also where the Monarch deposits eggs. When the catarpiller emerges it is right on top of it’s food source. Pretty conveniant! So let’s start talking Butterfly Journey! The photo below shows a monarch egg freshly deposited on a milkweed leaf we collected.

***A Monarch Butterfly egg looks tiny because it is!***

Monarchs usually deposit eggs on the underside of the milkweed leaf. It is probably a defense practice mechanism to preserve an easy meal to the critters it is visible to. If we see Monarchs in our garden, we’ll go out and carefully search under the leaves in order to locate and harvest or save eggs for our purpose of raising them. Once we carefully collect the eggs, they are sorted and placed into a container until they hatch. The below photo shows a large assortment collected from our garden and placed into a container kept safely away from hungry bugs and birds.

***Eggciting! Monarch eggs collected from our garden.***

Once collected and stored safely in our house, we wait until we see little holes forming in the leaves as the tiny emerging caterpillars start eating. We know immediately that they have hatched at this point. New and fresh leaves are then harvested from the garden and placed into another container and the new hatchlings are placed with the new leaves. Once feeding really commences fresh leaves are regularly harvested and placed in the container almost daily. The Monarch caterpillars grow as fast as they eat. And boy do they eat!

Throughout the summer we maintain a close watch of the milkweed as it is our source of feeding the catarpillers. By extending our areas of milkweed planting in our gardens, it is hoped that we can safely maintain enough food source as so much is needed during the time we are actively raising them. Sometimes we have outsourced food as we harvest leaves in nearby wild growth areas when our own plantings looked a bit too thinned from plucking leaves. By doing so, we also harvest a few Monarch eggs while doing so and bring those along to our home to raise with others from our garden. One point to make regarding the feeding is that when raising catarpillers, food is essential by way of milkweed leaves. Our experience in maintaining enough food source is how we judged the number of little guys we could raise successfully without scrambling to feed them. More on the raising will be covered in a future part.

***A closer view of a tiny hatched Monarch egg!***

Milkweed is the most essential part of our ability to raise Monarch butterflies and release them back into the wild. Easy to grow and not a bad looker when it is in bloom, these milkweed plants add great character and sustenance to a garden. To steal a little idea and paraphrase, “Milkweed! It does a caterpillar good!” is essentially how we look to anchor this important part of our Butterfly Journey. In my next segment, I will update about early plantings and show a few images as the late spring has come to our area and the greenhouse plants are now hardy enough to place in the garden.

May 7, 2022October 8, 2022

Butterfly Journey – Part II

My preparations for this year began last year as we decided to start many plants from seed that we would desire for the upcoming gardening season. In past years it has been a scramble to go to the many garden center nurseries in our area trying to find a good selection to choose from. Pricing, selection and the quality of what they had to offer always became deciding factors in the search for just the right things we wanted. Usually we did find everything we wanted but it was quite a chore to drive around and search each business for our plants we thought would be best suited. Also in years past, we had started some flowers from seed on our counter spaces, tables, floors, chairs, windowsills….just about every place that was awkward enough or in your way to be a nuisance. We had talked about the cost and convenience of purchasing from growers and the space issues starting our own plants in the house and of course came up with a possible solution. Installing a greenhouse would merge those two issues and also provide early season protection before planting. After researching the various home built and production type styles we did decide to purchase an aluminum prefab kit from a dealer. Cost and convenience drove half the decision along with ease of setup. The other half was the simple organization and planting use features that fit our garden objectives.

One of the things we planned for was to place the greenhouse in an obvious sun drenched area of our yard. We decided to clear an old overgrown vegetable garden area and reclaim it’s use for the greenhouse. It took a little elbow grease but well worth the effort. Minor adjustments to the actual ground for stability and preperation to place the greenhouse on a secure pad were then completed. The greenhouse itself was delivered in a few parcels. Think of it as a giant erector set for kid minded adults. So many parts. Nuts and bolts by the hundreds in various shapes and sizes. Every piece labeled differently, yet they all looked the same. It seemed daunting, but in the end, putting it all together was not as bad as the initial shock of trying to organize the pieces. After assembling and making sure the greenhouse was properly secured to the base we set out to try and make it easy to care for plants without clutter associated issues. Simple shelving and storage goals allowed us to maximize the small space all while keeping it very useful.

Trying to reduce clutter while maximizing space

The greenhouse we installed was basically a simple structure to allow us room to grow select plants in a safe environment protected from weather, animals and basically ourselves. Growing plants indoors is ok until you start large quantities of seedlings spread out through numerous living spaces. Of course other benefits are the ability to share some extra plants and also space for our gardening neighbors. The care needed for this was simply the watering times and upgrades from seedling size planting cells to larger sustainable pots before planting. We learned to watch the temperature so as not to dry our plants during this early growth time. Hand watering allowed us to track plant health and inspect for disease or other issues during the seedling to small potted transfer stages. It is really rewarding during this time before planting in the garden. When you go out and see the new plants lined up in a row, you kind of smile. Every day or so new leaves and seedlings sprouting up giving a sense of accomplishment while also enjoying the nature of fresh start gardening.

One of the things I would point out is that although we feel money will be saved through planting seeds as opposed to purchasing plants each season, we will also still continue to support local nurseries. We also considered the initial outlay of expense to put this into sensible use. It’s a balance of both economy and hobby that I based on our level of participation maintaing our gardens. Being able to support what we do with a little panache and organization suits our purpose and helps us organize for the better part of the gardening season. Consider it closet space for all your gardening needs!

While I have completed the installation, some things were left unfinished as it is decided what useful finishing touches will help us along the way. As seen above, most of our planting needs are kept inside. The partially completed planting beds surrounding the greenhouse base are for future decoration planting to soften the structure’s impact in our yard. Additional ideas such as remote drip irrigation will be added. I did purchase a remote thermometer to keep an eye from afar. From experience gained, it is imperative to monitor this in order to not loose seedlings and plants to extreme temperatures. We simply check and vent the structure as needed. As we gain insight into actual use and what we feel will be practical for our purpose, I will post updated information for anyone interested in adding a greenhouse to their garden repertoire.

In my next segment, I will update the progress regarding plantings for Monarch Butterflies that were started a year ago. The types of feeder and nurturing plants are in the Apocynaceae family, or milkweed as we know it. Establishing these plants take minimal effort but need some preparation and planning. Basic knowledge of use by the Monarch Butterflies and information on planting in proper environments concerning native plant species in your geographic area will be of great benefit. I will admit that it is a small amount of work and reading. However, the reward is so much greater when you get to sit back and admire what you will accomplish!

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