Hope For The Monarch Butterflies

A very famous blue monster named Grover once said: " Where there is life there is hope!"  I'm sure someone else said it first, but that is who came to my mind while I was writing this. Serious concern for the survival of the Monarchs has been in the news, but I'm so happy that there are still Monarchs who made it here to lay their eggs on the acres of milkweed plants we encourage to grow here.

I did not see this Monarch in the field of milkweed.  This one chose to lay her eggs right inside the stone square of the garden.  We have allowed milkweed to grow in the garden and I would encourage any gardener in the paths of the migrating Monarchs to do the same.  One Monarch and 4 eggs doesn't seem like much, but I hope that this is being repeated over and over again in places out of my sight and camera range.  I happen to know where this milkweed leaf is growing.  In a few days the first instar should hatch.  I will be watching!  I hope that there are enough gardeners to make a difference and that we have not noticed too late.  But there she is, real proof that we can all hope for the best and do what we can.  For more information about Monarch butterflies, I recommend  the book,  An Extraordinary Life:The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle. It is a story to  read to children, but it contains a great deal of helpful information as well.  If we all do what we can to help we have great reason to hope!

Wild Beyond Description

Our attempts to tame the wilderness here have been a humbling experience.  Our small pond was scratched in the surface using a tractor back blade.  Nearly year round springs provided a water supply to free range horses that summered here before our time.  Rich muck formed the dike and plant growth flourished.  Our first attempt to plant here only fed our chosen to the wild weeds.  The second attempt was only slightly more successful but it is early yet.  A scythe cut down the weeds.  A tarp covered the area for a full year.  Dead weed crowns were raked out and new plants were set in the clear dark ground.  The race is on to see who will hold this ground.

Blue Vervain, Verbena hastata grows wild here in limited numbers.  This plant is at the edge of the area planted.  We hope it holds on here since its dark blue flowers are a visual delight.  One plant was moved to the front garden.  We cut it back after it blooms to control it's many seeds.

When I moved the groundnuts, Apois americana to this rich moist soil, Becky feared that they would overrun the area.  This is a tough neighborhood and I will be happy if they just survive.  Weeds have closed in but the groundnuts seem to have gained a foothold.  The flowers are late this year.  Either the drought or the recent transplant could be the cause.  Drought seem an unlikely cause as the springs that feed the pond have been running all summer.  Perhaps the competition from native weeds slowed the groundnuts down.

Swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata is a native plant here but we purchased our original plant.  An accidental root cutting gave us a second plant.  It flowered and made seed in its new location.  We will watch to see it becomes a long term survivor.