My friend, Christina Gantz of Kvetina Wildscaping, has taken the concept of raising Monarchs to a new level. She first told me about her plans for a Monarch nursery over the winter. Today, Hannah and I drove over to her hatchery to take a look. It was magical.

While I collect caterpillars and tuck them into the safety of the Monarch nursery Paul made for me, Christina has two Monarch tents – one for caterpillars and one for the chrysalis.

This spring, she started pots of Milkweed from seed. These pots sit inside the caterpillar tent, and the caterpillars safely feast off the entire plant. When they eat all of the leaves off a plant, she rotates that pot out and brings in another potted milkweed. She had 6 or so pots in the tent today. There’s twice-daily cleaning up of the frass, and racing out in storms to make sure the tents don’t collapse from the wind and rain.

Once the caterpillar pupates, Christina places a sticker with the date next to the chrysalis. After a couple of days, she moves the chrysalis to the second tent, where they rest until the Monarchs emerge. She keeps a logbook tracking of all the activity. As of today she and her helpers have released 58 Monarchs with many more to come. And I’m still waiting for my first! Soon she’ll begin tagging them to monitor their migration progress.

Lots of other pollinators enjoyed the Milkweed like this Fritillary Butterfly.

At the end of the season, Christina plants the potted Milkweed in the ground for next year’s butterflies to return to.  She is inspiring me to up my Monarch game next year!