Watching In The Cold Spring

Spring shouldn’t be this cold. It’s too cold to get a good start on the garden. Not sure who to blame here – El Niño, Mother Nature, the wildfires, the government… But we are way behind in our garden because the madman feels it’s just too cold to put his warm-loving plants in the ground. He actually knows a lot of people who are desperately looking for replacement plants because they didn’t heed his warnings about the cold spring.

Luckily, we had other projects which kept us busy. The most important one was to place a sign. It arrived months ago, and we’ve been looking for the perfect spot. I’ve been telling the madman that the Monarchs can’t read. To which he replies, “Yeah, but I want to see it because it makes me smile.” Finding the perfect spot meant that we spent a lot of time in the garden just looking.

Lots To See

At first, we were looking for a place for the sign, but the longer we stood and looked, the more we realized there were lots of things to see. Like the hummingbirds perching on garden stalks. Like the birds we thought had left us because we took down the feeders. Or, like the small butterflies we don’t always notice.

Normally at this time of year, the madman is out there two or three times a day looking at his hot pepper plants. But, with the cold spring we are having, he is in no hurry to get them out. The ones that are already in the Row of Death are doing their best, but in reality, they are just getting by.

First Swallowtails Of The Season

So, he has to look for other things. Weeks ago, the madman spotted our first Black Swallowtails flitting around the garden. As he watched, the females were depositing eggs on our baby dill plants. It seems the cold spring didn’t bother them. Then the butterflies moved to the back and started on the Fennel. These Swallowtails are long gone, but the madman carefully watched over the tiny eggs. Oh, what excitement when he came running in to announce that the first one had hatched. Watching these babies grow is almost more fun than watching the peppers grow.

But that’s not all we’ve seen while waiting for the weather to warm up. These 40˚ evenings are killing us – not just us, our plants too. Remember how he vowed not to rush the season? Well, he’s thinking he should have vowed harder. I actually think that Mother Nature has sent us a few extra butterflies to help him recover from the loss of a few plants thanks to a cold spring.

More Butterflies

After the Black Swallowtails, the madman came upon a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. That was quite a sight: the madman chasing a butterfly with his camera. Those butterflies never cooperate. If you want to learn how to get some good shots of butterflies, check out the Smith-Boeth Monarch Waystation. Rick and Stephanie have the patience to do it right – the madman doesn’t.

We’ve also spotted some Azures and some Sulfurs. These are easy to identify with their blues and yellows. And, we have noticed a few Skippers. But recently we have been noticing some flashes of orange. Lots of people see an orange butterfly and say, “Ooh, a Monarch.” But Monarchs are much larger than what we have been seeing.

Besides we don’t usually get them this early in our garden. The flashes of orange are on the wings of Checkerspots – a common butterfly in Connecticut. We see these inch-long butterflies in the lawn, a good reason to hold off mowing until June if you can.

The madman has been keeping a list of butterflies that have stayed still long enough for him to identify. We keep it on our table next to the list of birds we’ve identified over the years. But let’s get back to our sign.

Monarch Watch

Last year our yard was certified as an official Monarch Waystation (#41071), making us a part of their conservation community. We are proud of this because it wasn’t always so. At one time, we grew vegetables to eat and flowers to admire. But we didn’t think about what visitors these plants might attract. Through the Master Gardener Program, we were introduced to the concept of gardening for nature. We began to incorporate things like native plants, denser plantings for shelter and water sources. We noticed an uptick in activity – more bees, birds and butterflies.

But the Monarch was missing. The Monarch is a fascinating creature – fascinating but fussy. It is attracted by all sorts of nectar plants, but it will only hang around if it finds Milkweed. It will only lay its eggs on Milkweed.

Milkweed

We didn’t have any. So, in the spring we would plant Milkweed seeds. And, in the summer we would look for the plants that never came up. One fall, we took some Milkweed seeds from a roadside patch and went straight home and planted them. Next spring, these plants came up, and as the weed part of the name implies, we now have Milkweed all over the place. It seems the seeds need to go through a winter to germinate.

But guess what? The Monarchs came. And they come back every year. The madman calls them “Mid-summer Regulars”. The life cycle and migration habits of the Monarch are fascinating. The cycle of the Eastern Monarch starts by overwintering in the oyamel fir forests of mountainous central Mexico.

Heading North

From November to March, they just hang out, living off stored energy. In March, the colonies begin to break up and individuals head north. The first group flies to the Gulf coast where they mate and lay eggs, always on species of Milkweed. Sadly, the parents die off, but the new generation continues the journey north. According to the US Department of Agriculture, it takes three to four generations for Monarchs to reach their northern ranges in the United States and Canada. According to Journey North, the Monarchs are getting close so we are keeping an eye out for them.

The Monarch is an endangered species, mostly due to loss of Milkweed habitat in agricultural fields (thank you, Roundup). But we can all do our part to help this beautiful butterfly – plant Milkweed! Better yet, become an official Waystation. Here’s a link to get you started.

Hopefully you won’t have as much trouble finding a place for your sign as the madman did. But, our sign is up. Our Milkweed is ready to bloom, and we’re still having hot cocoa.

Time for a cup right now.