There was plenty for them to eat--both the wild plums and the lilacs were blooming profusely--but where would they lay their eggs?
The milkweeds weren't up yet.
The Monarchs floated here and there, just above the mustards and mints that were already leafing out--and it broke my heart to think that they were looking for milkweeds they would not find.
Still, the butterflies avoided the burns and replenished their energy with nectar. I blessed the plums and lilacs and yes, the dandelions, that were keeping them alive.
Then on April 12, I saw milkweed noses poking through the soil.
Just in time!
The milkweeds were in an area where I had worked hard to remove the Crown Vetch. If ever there was a reward for all that labor, this was it. If ever there was an incentive to continue removing invasive, non-native monocultures to make room for native plants, this was it!
The milkweeds grew quickly, and soon I found little white spheres on the milkweeds' green leaves.  |
| These little white balls are the eggs of Monarch butterflies. |
Within just a few days, the eggs became tiny caterpillars......with a healthy appetite!
They need to grow quickly, because the milkweeds are home to spiders, too--and little caterpillars can make a nice meal for a spider. Invertebrates don't seem to mind the toxic steroids called cardenolides which the Monarchs absorb from milkweeds. Birds and rodents have learned to avoid the bitter-tasting Monarchs. But invertebrates such as spiders either have a different palate or a shorter memory.
I photographed these two spiders on the same milkweed plants where I found the caterpillars. Some caterpillar-molecules will become spider-molecules.
I pray with my heart that enough caterpillars will survive to found dynasties of butterflies!
I will pray with my hands and time and energy by working hard to create and maintain habitat for native plants, including milkweeds.
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