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If any of you are in California and are interested in creating a habitat for Monarch caterpillars around your home, I highly recommend Narrow-leaf milkweed. It'

If any of you are in California and are interested in creating a habitat for Monarch caterpillars around your home, I highly recommend Narrow-leaf milkweed. It's one of the native milkweeds and its the favorite of my caterpillars (they hate Showy milkweed). You can find nurseries with Narrow-leaf here: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=434&showmap=1 https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=434&showmap=1 Or you can grow from seed: https://larnerseeds.com/products/asclepias-fascicularis-narrow-leaf-milkweed https://larnerseeds.com/products/asclepias-fascicularis-narr... I do both, since you can never have enough milkweed! Here's a video of a Monarch butterfly recently flying for the first time after pupating on our Salvia: https://studio.youtube.com/video/edTgi7f1NlY/edit https://studio.youtube.com/video/edTgi7f1NlY/edit

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
angst_ridden 4y ago
Interesting. In my area (Southern California), the Monarchs seem to really prefer the Tropical (Asclepias curassavica). We plante it when a local Monarch enthusiast recommended it. Now that we're more educated, we've been gradually getting rid of it.
- pamelafox 4y ago
  Ah, I never even attempted the tropical since it's not native, so I don't know how ravenous they'd be for it. I just contrast narrow-leaf to showy since those are the two commonly sold native CA milkweeds, and my caterpillars are just so incredibly not into the showy, it might as well not be milkweed.
  - angst_ridden 4y ago
    We were pretty ignorant when we started our Monarch garden. It was 20 years ago, and there was less readily-available information.
    - pamelafox 4y ago
      Yeah, to be fair, I'm in that situation with swallowtails right now. I planted non-native dill, and it's swamped with happy swallowtails, as I didn't know about the native Yampah. Hope to replace the dill with yampah next year. Until then, the swallowtails shall have a dill buffet.
14 4y ago
I just bought these ones I didn't realize there was a specific species they prefer are these ones okay? https://www.amazon.ca/Caribou-Seed-Company-Butterflies-Germination/dp/B07M8KS8PN/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=milkweed+seeds&qid=1658510991&sr=8-9 https://www.amazon.ca/Caribou-Seed-Company-Butterflies-Germi...
- pamelafox 4y ago
  Hm, so it seems like that milkweed does have a distribution in California, but is not one of the native ones. https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9705 https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9705 says it's not native, and Calscape doesn't list it at all. If you're in California, I'd highly recommend getting the narrow-leaf instead, if you don't mind spending a little more money. Also, if you can, plant some native Salvia nearby for them to pupate on. Salvia Clevandii does quite well. They'll also pupate on arbors, trellises, fences, etc.
kshahkshah 4y ago
Will add, if you're buying from a nursery, make sure the grower they source from use neonicotinoids free soil. I've been visited by so so many different butterflies this year. I'm in Zone 6B, central NJ. I planted asclepias tuberosa (mexican milkweed, orange flowers, medium height), lots of agastache, eupatorium (little joe pyeweed), and monarda. Highly recommend doing some research on natives.
- pamelafox 4y ago
  Ah yes, good point, apparently some of the local nurseries have sprayed their milkweeds with some sort of pesticide, which means you have to keep caterpillars off them for a year. If you go to a nursery that specializes in natives, that's usually not an issue. In bay area, my favorite nurseries are Watershed and Oaktown Native, and they don't spray. We've actually had a ton of swallowtails this year, which I'll admit are all over my non-native dill. I intend to plant Yampah one of these days, since that's the native version of dill.
- quercusa 4y ago
  Darn rabbits got my tuberosa. If you don't have Mountain Mint[0] (Pycnanthemum muticum) it drives all the non-butterfly pollinators nuts. I'm hoping to find some Winged Sumac[1] as it's also a big draw. [0] https://njaes.rutgers.edu/plant-of-the-month/pycnanthemum.php https://njaes.rutgers.edu/plant-of-the-month/pycnanthemum.ph... [1] https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHCO https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHCO
  - kshahkshah 4y ago
    I didn't know about mountain mint, this is a fabulous recommendation. Thank you!
eklitzke 4y ago
Working YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edTgi7f1NlY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edTgi7f1NlY

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

angst_ridden 4y ago

Interesting. In my area (Southern California), the Monarchs seem to really prefer the Tropical (Asclepias curassavica). We plante it when a local Monarch enthusiast recommended it. Now that we're more educated, we've been gradually getting rid of it.

pamelafox 4y ago
Ah, I never even attempted the tropical since it's not native, so I don't know how ravenous they'd be for it. I just contrast narrow-leaf to showy since those are the two commonly sold native CA milkweeds, and my caterpillars are just so incredibly not into the showy, it might as well not be milkweed.
- angst_ridden 4y ago
  We were pretty ignorant when we started our Monarch garden. It was 20 years ago, and there was less readily-available information.
  - pamelafox 4y ago
    Yeah, to be fair, I'm in that situation with swallowtails right now. I planted non-native dill, and it's swamped with happy swallowtails, as I didn't know about the native Yampah. Hope to replace the dill with yampah next year. Until then, the swallowtails shall have a dill buffet.

14 4y ago

I just bought these ones I didn't realize there was a specific species they prefer are these ones okay? https://www.amazon.ca/Caribou-Seed-Company-Butterflies-Germination/dp/B07M8KS8PN/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=milkweed+seeds&qid=1658510991&sr=8-9 https://www.amazon.ca/Caribou-Seed-Company-Butterflies-Germi...

pamelafox 4y ago
Hm, so it seems like that milkweed does have a distribution in California, but is not one of the native ones. https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9705 https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9705 says it's not native, and Calscape doesn't list it at all. If you're in California, I'd highly recommend getting the narrow-leaf instead, if you don't mind spending a little more money. Also, if you can, plant some native Salvia nearby for them to pupate on. Salvia Clevandii does quite well. They'll also pupate on arbors, trellises, fences, etc.

kshahkshah 4y ago

Will add, if you're buying from a nursery, make sure the grower they source from use neonicotinoids free soil. I've been visited by so so many different butterflies this year. I'm in Zone 6B, central NJ. I planted asclepias tuberosa (mexican milkweed, orange flowers, medium height), lots of agastache, eupatorium (little joe pyeweed), and monarda. Highly recommend doing some research on natives.

pamelafox 4y ago
Ah yes, good point, apparently some of the local nurseries have sprayed their milkweeds with some sort of pesticide, which means you have to keep caterpillars off them for a year. If you go to a nursery that specializes in natives, that's usually not an issue. In bay area, my favorite nurseries are Watershed and Oaktown Native, and they don't spray. We've actually had a ton of swallowtails this year, which I'll admit are all over my non-native dill. I intend to plant Yampah one of these days, since that's the native version of dill.
quercusa 4y ago
Darn rabbits got my tuberosa. If you don't have Mountain Mint[0] (Pycnanthemum muticum) it drives all the non-butterfly pollinators nuts. I'm hoping to find some Winged Sumac[1] as it's also a big draw. [0] https://njaes.rutgers.edu/plant-of-the-month/pycnanthemum.php https://njaes.rutgers.edu/plant-of-the-month/pycnanthemum.ph... [1] https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHCO https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHCO
- kshahkshah 4y ago
  I didn't know about mountain mint, this is a fabulous recommendation. Thank you!

eklitzke 4y ago

Working YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edTgi7f1NlY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edTgi7f1NlY