A Monarch Summer

There’s something truly magical about raising butterflies. Five years ago, I planted my first milkweed in my garden, with the hope of: “Plant it and they will come.” And come they did. That year I nurtured 25 monarch butterflies into being. Fast forward to this summer’s monarch season when I raised an astonishing 102 monarch butterflies from caterpillars in that very same patch.

We spotted our first monarch butterfly in the garden at least 7 to 10 days earlier than in previous years. Upon returning from a visit to Pennsylvania in early July, I began to notice voracious caterpillars munching away on the milkweed. It seemed that every time I turned around, I would spot another caterpillar and tuck it into my monarch hatchery.

My monarch collecting began a couple of weeks before that of my friends in the area. There is some speculation that smoke from wildfires diverted, or at least slowed, their migration to Maine.

Before long, I had 60 chrysalises. This number was far more than my little hatchery was designed to accommodate, so I moved many of them to a wire frame on the screened porch.

Over an eight-day period ending on August 1st, 60 monarchs emerged from their chrysalises—35 females and 25 males. After the last butterfly hatched, I scrubbed out the monarch hatchery and began collecting another round of caterpillars.

In this second round of monarch rearing, I released another 42 butterflies (20 females and 22 males) between August 17th and September 16th. Cooler temperatures slowed the development of some of the later chrysalises.

Despite the fantastic success with my small patch of milkweed, I had Paul help me dig it up with the tractor. I had originally planted common milkweed, which is very prolific.

The horizontal roots spread underground, sprouting new plants, as you can see from this root I pulled up.

My milkweed and monarch journey is far from over. I’ve already planted eight swamp milkweed plants that will grow in clumps, and I plan to purchase a few more next summer to plant in the newly cleared area along with late-summer blooming flowers to ensure the new monarchs have plenty of food.

This was my final monarch release–#102. I take great delight in observing these beautiful creatures find their wings, wearing what I imagine are little polka dot sweaters. Releasing them and watching their first flight, flitting from flower to flower, fills me with joy.