Preparing for take off . . .

Activity is reaching fever pitch . . . Elizabeth Howard

"getting ready to go"

Once or twice a week now I get an email in my inbox from Journey North with updates about the monarch activity in the mountain tops of Mexico, their overwintering site.

On February 26 there was a flurry of activity as the thirsty monarchs started breaking out their clusters on the trees looking for water, and within the month they will leave their winter home and begin their journey north to recolonize North America.

Which means, especially for those of us in Texas as the main migration corridor between Mexico and the States, please, please start planting nectar plants for their arrival, and milkweed for laying eggs. 

"The monarchs would come out of the trees each time that cumulus clouds
covered the sun. They reached almost unbelievably dense numbers, flying
out over the llanos. The trees were nearly emptied at such times. Literally
every cubic foot of air held at least one monarch."  El Rosario Sanctuary, Feb 21, 2015

Can you even imagine what a sight that is . . . sigh . . . I feel a lump in my throat thinking about it!! 

As they break out of their clusters, looking for water they will also be mating and the females will be looking for a place to lay their eggs when they get here. When they arrived in Mexico in the fall the typical monarch weighed 140 mg and per Journey North those energy reserves are about 70% depleted by now. They will be very hungry when they get here.

For those of you unaware there was a petition filed last year to put the monarch on the endangered species list and within the stipulations of that status they had said that citizens would only be able to raise 10 wild caught caterpillars. Let's just say that didn't go over very well in the monarch community and they have since revised it to read 100 caterpillars. It is only a suggestion though, and will be at the discretion of the service if it's listed as threatened. That is still 500 less than what I raised last summer alone.

I simply don't agree with listing the monarch as endangered. Their migration is what is in danger because we have lost nearly all (90% or more) of the native milkweed in the Midwest that used to grow in our row crops, now being sprayed with Monsanto herbicides. (That's a whole other post by itself)

I spent some time today pulling weeds, starting to prep the garden and thinking about what I want to plant. Purple trailing lantana ( with a heavenly scent) and a red-orange-yellow variety that I think is called Luscious Citrus Blend, were both really big hits with all the butterflies {and the hummers loved the red one}. I also plant different varieties of salvia, coneflower, zinnia, penta {both butterfly and graffiti varieties}, hyssop (didn't come back last year, and couldn't find it last summer), and black-eyed susan. I'm sure there is something I'm missing and I hope to add to the list this summer, including some different host plants for more butterflies.

Here's to diggin' in the dirt!

Love, Kim

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