I have planted a number of Common Milkweed, Hairy Balls Milkweed and Swamp Milkweed throughout our yard, hoping they will establish themselves and become permanent parts of our landscaping plan. They grow a bit slowly, however, so I planted a number of Tropical Milkweed plants in pots on our rear deck. I salso use the potted Tropical Milkweed to place in my net cages to feed larvae that hatch from the eggs I receive from a facility in PA or from Monarch Watch.
The Tropical Milkweed plants have more developed flowers, and are attracting Monarchs to nectar, as well as to lay eggs. Two of the larger plants have caterpillars feeding on them, from eggs laid there either by butterflies I released over the past few weeks or by those just passing by. In either event, seeing them is quite rewarding. For whatever reason, female Monarchs seem to consistently choose Tropical Milkweed, if available, over native milkweeds for depositing their eggs. The first image shows a Monarch, possibly a female looking for a place to leave her young, taking nectar from a potted Tropical Milkweed. The second image shows a wider scene, including part of our deck. http://dan-matyola.squarespace.com/danmatyolas-pesos/2019/7/16/monarch-on-milkweed Again, Pentax K-5 IIs with Pentax FA 100 mm Macro F 2.8 Comments are invited and appreciated. Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
