Hard copies are once again available for purchase!
Plant Northern Piedmont Natives has reprinted this popular guide. Copies are $10 each and available at Thomas Jefferson SWCD Office in Charlottesville, Piedmont Environmental Council Headquarters Office in Warrenton, and other retail outlets.
Copies are also available from Virginia Native Plant Society for $13.50 including shipping and tax.
A PDF version is available here at no charge.
Have you noticed the incredible number of monarch butterflies (Danus plexippus) in recent days? We have here in Virginia. I have observed more monarchs in the last half of August 2018 than I have seen in the past five years living in Indiana and Virginia! Watching these late-summer travelers make use of our garden for food and reproduction is a great source of joy and pride for me and Pete. So why does it seem as if we are seeing so many? Is it that we are just paying attention more these days, is our mini-oasis of native plants attracting them so it appears that we are seeing more, or perhaps there are more monarchs than in years past and things are looking up for these little ones?
I was hoping there were just more overwintering monarch adults and that conservation efforts were producing early results. Some quick research revealed a mix of good and bad news. First, the bad news. The 2017-2018 monarch population overwintering in Mexico was down 14.77% from the previous year and continues to decline. And now for the good news: according to Monarch Watch, the migrants from the monarch’s winter home in Mexico got a good start and began reproduction a little earlier this year meaning more eggs, more larvae, more monarchs in eastern North America for this season. Perhaps a small population bump early will result in more overwintering monarchs? Next year’s count will tell us for sure.
We are seeing a lot of monarch butterflies now because they are moving through Virginia, laying eggs in their last reproductive cycle for 2018. Check out this map showing monarch the spring and fall monarch migration. The resulting caterpillars will feed on milkweed (Asclepias spp.) through September. The adults emerging from their chrysalis in late September/early October are those that will join the fall migration. These individuals will be the adults migrating to Mexico and the adults that will be the first to reproduce next spring upon their return to Texas.
In our own gardens monarchs are abundant, nectaring and laying eggs. Last week, there was a sad, tattered looking female depositing a lot of eggs on A. syriaca (common milkweed) in our native gardens.
We had the pleasure of watching her land on the top of the milkweed leaf, move her abdomen off the edge and slightly under, depositing on tiny white egg on the underside of the leaf. At least three separate females have been observed to make use of the common milkweed we have planted.
There is such a sense of stewardship over the tiny caterpillars as they emerge: checking them, counting to make sure everyone is there, getting nervous when the milkweed seems like it might not be enough, and waiting for them to become the adults who will make the long journey south. It feels almost magical when the monarch mommas return in August and that by planting just couple of common milkweeds, we are somehow a small part of something much greater than ourselves.
Last fall, there was one adult who emerged after pupation, its chrysalis attached to a Monarda didyma (scarlet bee balm) in our garden not far from where it grew up feasting upon milkweed. We watched it emerge, pump its wings, and fly away circling over our home many times before joining the migration. I like to think it was in some small way saying, “thanks”.
For additional information on this year’s monarch migration visit Journey North. At Journey North you can record your own monarch sighting and through the power of citizen science help track the migration of this fascinating species.
Native bees feasting on Silphium perfoliatum.
Since last fall, we have been growing and installing plants native to Virginia into our landscaping. We kind of live in concrete urban crap (relatively speaking if you are a native pollinator) with invasive infested lots and woodlands, so creating a little native spot in the middle of it all is good for local pollinators and good for our souls. Pete has been really digging the cup plants and the tons of native bees constantly swarming around them. The behemoth stalks and bright yellow flowers also provide a valuable service hiding the house from the road giving its human inhabitants some much-needed privacy. Our work is beginning to pay off with very exciting results so far.
Great leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia) chillin’ on our steps. Butterflies and Moths of North America Sighting 1131918.
It seems there is a new creature every day! We have recently attracted a ruby-throated hummingbird; the first Pete has ever seen here. She seems to stop by when I do not have a camera ready. Each day she checks the Monarda didyma, but I am afraid they are running out of juice!
There is a steady stream of butterflies and moths too. As part of our effort to document who and what is using our backyard habitat, I have been reporting butterfly and moth sightings to Butterflies and Moth of North America . This useful website has extensive species information, tons of high quality photographs, and a very responsive ID interface if you have a photograph and some additional basic information on the butterfly or moth you would like to have identified. The information you provide is also collected and recorded as a record for the species. I recently did this with a new-to-me moth called a great leopard moth. It seems to be fairly common in the eastern United States, but I had not come across it before. Cool.
The Litris spicata is banging right now and a few visitors have taken great delight in its endless wild purple flowers…
 monarch butterfly |
 American painted lady |
It is so important for any backyard habitat to not only provide nectar plants for butterflies and moths, but provide host plants for their caterpillars too. These little eggs were deposited about a week ago on the Baptisia australis. Not sure what they are, but it looks like some have hatched with no sign of a caterpillar, though they are incredibly tiny at this point and it may be difficult to find them. We hope to find more caterpillars calling our backyard habitat home.
Eggs from unidentified insect on Baptisia australis are on the set of leaves third from top.