Monday, August 23, 2010

The Disappearing Milkweed, Swallowtail Caterpillars and Eggs



From In the Garden
After our rains finally arrived-thank goodness because with over 18000 gallons of water used last month I simply cannot water anymore-I have been enjoying the garden more. During the high heat days of July and early August I did not venture outside at all unless I had to. It has been a tough summer! At any rate I was looking around the garden while watering and noticed something missing-my tropical milkweed!


From In the Garden
I did a double take because even though we had been in a drought I could not see how 20+ two foot tall plants fully leafed out could just disappear. Okay, well maybe I can understand it if I had a rabbit or deer problem. I have neither one of those issues here so I then surmised the drought took out the milkweed-until I looked closer. Can you see what I saw? Stems! Just stems that were chewed off about six inches above the ground. Ha! You can tell I am not too used to this happening but those butterfly aficionados out there in cyberland will immediately realize what happened to the butterfly weed-caterpillars ate it. I have never had this happen to my native butterfly weed and while I'm not begrudging the monarch caterpillars their food (I assume it is them) I am a bit distressed to think that if there are no blooms on my plants then there will be no seedlings next year. Not to worry, the plants are growing back nicely and there are a few stray seedlings in other parts of the garden that will surely continue on this wonderful milkweed in my garden. It is really a nice plant to be so accommodating to the caterpillars and to grow back for the gardener too!


From In the Garden

Another really cool thing about this milkweed is that it is a host for several insects. When I first found the orange eggs above I was most excited to think they were monarch eggs but upon further research I know they most likely are not monarch eggs but ladybug eggs! This is very good for my garden and makes total sense to me. As anyone who grows tropical milkweed knows this milkweed is most attractive to aphids. What do ladybugs eat but aphids? These ladybug eggs will hatch and the larve will make short work of the aphids. But! They may also eat the monarch caterpillars so the eggs are a quandary for me. Note: These eggs can be mistaken for aphids but they have no legs and are mobile so are definitely not aphids. For more on this check this link about monarchs and butterfly weed.

The swallowtail photo was only to distract you from the picture of the ugly milkweed sticks and is not a culprit in the missing milkweed. This caterpillar and a ton of its buddies made my dillweed all disappear....

in the garden....



Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

19 comments:

  1. Please come butterflies but don't let you kids eat everything. :-)

    Ladybugs welcome too but please be nice to the butterflies.

    Do you think that would all fit on a garden sign that they would understand.

    Great photos.

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  2. You are so lucky to have both in your yard. They must like it and think it's a heaven with all those choices.

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  3. They sure have been a hungry bunch this year! While I do have some butterfly weed missing, it's the fennel and the dill that have been eaten nearly to the ground. I did notice those orange eggs, though, on my butterfly weed, too. Darn, I was hoping they were butterfly eggs!

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  4. We have a ton of swallowtails this year but no dill to feed them. Hopefully they will find it somewhere else! Very cool on the lady bug eggs - good critters to have around!

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  5. GSS, If only!

    Dawn, They are pretty happy for sure.

    Rose, I know bummer on the eggs huh? But keep checking as the butterflies may yet lay a few.

    Dave, The swallowtails are awesome!

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  6. Plants grow back like a tail on a lizard - how nice! I had my first milkweeds this season. Beautiful! I hope they selfseeded. Tina, your summer was tough because of the heat, and our summer was tough without it. I hope September will be warm enough to give us some tomatoes, cucumbers and beans!

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  7. Those cats sure can be pretty. Who would think something so pretty can cause so darn much damage.

    I was thinking about buying some lady bugs since I had not seen a one in my garden. This summer....BINGO....they showed up!!!!

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  8. Wow, those caterpillars are one hungry bunch. I'm glad you have some milkweed volunteers to continue your crop.

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  9. Drought will not kill milkweed--I never water mine and it grows (though not in as hot temps as yours). My milkweed has been taken down pretty far by caterpillars, but not *that* far. Interesting! Cool you have ladybug eggs, too.

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  10. It's always nice that I learn so much here Tina. I wasn't familiar with Milkweed so googled pics of it in bloom. Very pretty. Wonder if it is hardy here. I haven't seen any ladybugs here this year either and also thought about buying some when I found aphids on a plant but I got rid of them. Maybe I'll buy some next year just to have around.

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  11. Crunch and munch going on the garden, sometimes it's good when they eat the bugs but not so good when the munchers eat the veggies.
    I haven't ever seen lady bug eggs that close -up. Now I know what to look for!

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  12. Well, dare I say, your distraction worked! :) Lovely photos. And I'm really glad you talked about the LB eggs. I wouldn't have thought twice before spraying these little things to their demise. Thank you!

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  13. It's wonderful that you have monarchs in your garden, Tina. This summer I have no butterflies in my garden. NONE. Can you believe that? Weird summer.

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  14. I really never see caterpillars in my yard so I can't even imagine having enough around to eat all those plants. Sounds like they really liked the milkweed. I had never seen ladybug eggs before, now I'll know what to look for. They've been around my garden all summer.

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  15. Very familiar to me! I say what a treat...I still have not seen any maonarchs this year...

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  16. What a quandary indeed, but who doesn't love Ladybugs. Glad that the Butterfly weed is coming back, wow they were hungry little buggers. ;)

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  17. We have finally had rain here too. And thank goodness for cooler temperatures. Like you I have not ventured into the garden much on account of the heat. Now that it is cooler I have a ton of work awaiting me.

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  18. The milkweed bugs are eating my seeds this year, so I won't have any to harvest. I have one Monarch caterpillar right now, but most of my swamp milkweed is missing the lower leaves. Never had it before, but there are aphids and lady bug eggs on mine. I don't like to hose off the plants right now for fear of washing away Monarch eggs. It's nature, but if more Monarch caterpillars hatch on the pink swamp milkweed, I'm going to have to move them to the white swamp or the orange tuberosa leaves.

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  19. I think it's terrific that you've given them such a smorgasbord Tina. I wouldn't lament it at all. I plant that stuff just to attract them then never see any caterpillars. I think you did them a great service this summer so kudos to you and your garden for helping them out.

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