Backyard Butterflies, Inc
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To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
~ Audrey Hepburn
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Greetings Fellow Backyard Butterfliers,
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I hope this finds you well and that you will continue to be so as we begin to shelter-in-place over the duration of this month. I send virtual hugs, or if you prefer, enthusiastic hand waves.
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We greatly appreciate all of the support we've received since the launch of our online store! While some of our events and activities have been cancelled or postponed in response to the stay-at-home order, we can continue to operate our online plant store as garden centers and nurseries are considered essential. We offer no contact pick-up and we have expanded our no contact delivery area to 50 miles from Hillsborough.
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We're dedicating this month to the Monarch butterfly and its host plant, milkweeds. The Monarch will be arriving by the middle of this month, if not sooner. Upon their arrival the females will lay eggs starting the first brood cycle of the year in our area. There's still time to plant milkweeds in anticipation of the hungry hordes of caterpillars. Milkweeds are one of my favorite plants because they are just as much a nectar plant as they are a host plant, and they somehow thrive despite the continuous assault from aphids, milkweed beetles, milkweed tussock moth caterpillars, and Monarch caterpillars. May we all be as hearty as milkweeds.
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Peace, love, health, and butterflies!
~ LMCarlson
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Monarchs & Milkweeds
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It's been a very warm winter and spring. We're anticipating an early and abundant Monarch caterpillar season. All of our milkweeds are 25% off for the entire month, no coupon code required! Sale ends on April 30, 2020.
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Plus, if you order $100 or more you can select free delivery for your order!
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We also have a Promotional Email mailing list you can join to receive exclusive offers twice a month. We might also include some fun stuff and information, too!
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Certify Your Garden as a Monarch Waystation!
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The Monarch Waystation certification program is administered by Monarch Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Monarch butterfly. The idea of the waystation is to provide food and shelter for Monarchs--and hopefully other butterflies as well! All butterflies need a combination of host and nectar plants to carry out their life cycle. The loss of habitat has been identified as one of many factors in the decline of the Monarch population.
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Monarchs migrate into North Carolina starting in April and migrate back to Mexico in mid to late October. We have found that providing a combination of different milkweed species in our habitat helps us feed caterpillars April through late October. We have experienced that the adult Monarchs in the late summer and early fall will nectar on tithonia, goldenrod, and lantana.
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Waystation Certification Requirements:
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- 100 sq. ft or greater
- Provides shelter
- One or more milkweeds
- One or more nectar annual/biennial
- One or more nectar perennial
- Sustainable management
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The cost for certification and the decorative sign is $33. You can submit your application online or print one out to mail.
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Backyard Butterflies is Waystation #19428
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Listed below are the plants we have in our online shop to help you become a certified waystation. We can make recommendations regarding what plants to choose based upon your growing conditions upon request.
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Nectar Annuals & Biennials
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Perennial Nectar Plants
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Just about any plant from The Nectar Collection!
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Which Milkweed is Best to Grow?
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The answer depends! (It always does.)
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If you have soil that tends to be dry or medium, we would recommend growing Common, Tropical, Hairy Balls, or Butterfly weed. Swamp Milkweed does like moist soil so you will want to water it regularly if your soil tends to be dry.
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If you want to know what type of milkweed is preferred by females to lay eggs on, we have noticed some species are more favored than others at certain times of the year. In the spring we have tended to find caterpillars on Butterfly Weed, in the summer on Common, and in the fall on Hairy Balls and Tropical.
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As for feeding caterpillars, our preference is to use Common because the leaves are huge. When I'm raising dozens of voracious caterpillars they can chow down the huge Common leaves within hours. Common leaves can also be stored in the fridge for weeks (just don't mistake them for spinach or lettuce).
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"I'd like to speak to the manager."
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We grow Tropical and Hairy Balls because they provide food for caterpillars when the native milkweeds aren't available in the early spring or in the fall. Both regenerate quickly and tolerate heat and drought.
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Sexing Monarch Butterflies & Chrysalises
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Once you have created your backyard butterfly habitat and get it certified you can relax and enjoy watching the Monarchs go through their life cycle.
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If you decide to take on a more active role in hand raising caterpillars it is good to know the differences between female and male Monarchs.
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Monarch butterflies look almost identical. They exhibit minimal sexual dimorphism. The female has thicker black lines and lacks two small black dots on the inner margin of the hindwings next to the abdomen. The black dots on the male may emit pheromones.
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If you see a Monarch on a milkweed and it appears to be curling its abdomen underneath a leaf, chances are it's a female laying an egg!
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The sex of a Monarch caterpillar is not obvious unless it is dissected. However, when they form a chrysalis there is a way to determine the sex. The chrysalis of a female will have a small line just below the pair of black dots near the cremaster. For a more detailed explanation visit the Sexing Monarchs webpage.
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Another way to determine the sex of a butterfly is to look at the business end of the abdomen. Males have claspers which are used to hold onto the female during mating. The tip of their abdomen will appear pointed whereas on a female it will appear rounded.
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Often in the early spring the first Monarchs arrive and will begin laying eggs on newly emerging milkweeds. The plants are too small to feed the dozens to hundreds of hungry caterpillars. We can help!
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We offer Caterpillar Support to those who are in need of host plants, foster care, or adoption of caterpillars.
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There are 18 species of caterpillar that we can provide the host plant for, and we can also provide host plants for some species of moths.
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This program is free of charge. All you need to do is apply letting us know what host plants you need, or if you need us to foster care or adopt your caterpillars.
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Newly hatched Monarch caterpillars
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Update on Spring Butterfly Walks & Events
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Our Annual Brown Elfin Butterfly Walk is cancelled due to the closing of state parks. We have decided to cancel all scheduled butterfly walks for April and we will see how things are when we get to May.
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Caterpillar Raising Workshops are also postponed until it is safe to gather in groups again. If you have any questions or need information about caterpillars, host plants, nectar plants, and such we're here to help by email, phone/text, Facebook Messenger, and you might cajole us to video call.
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Plant Pots Return Request
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We appreciate the return of pots for re-use if you happen to be passing by our way. No need to contact us, just drop them off on our porch.
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Sneak Peek for May Newsletter
The Eastern Black Swallowtail
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