I read that monarchs need milkweed to lay their eggs on. So I started researching milkweed—and, oh boy! There are tons of varieties!
I went to our local garden centers with an idea of what kind of milkweed I wanted, only to find out that they didn’t carry nearly as much variety as what I had found on the Internet. They had common milkweed and butterfly weed, so that’s what I got.
Did I have any idea where I wanted to plant them?
No.
Looking back, I probably should have planned where to plant them first. Oops!
So here I was, thinking that I would have to create another flower bed specifically for native plants. Off to the garden centers I went to get garden soil.
I already had plenty of cardboard boxes from my Amazon deliveries (heh!), so I decided to put those to good use.
I laid down the cardboard, then added sticks and tons of dried leaves. I watered everything down, added some more dried leaves, and then topped it all with garden soil.
I’m not an expert, and I had read somewhere that this was a way to create a flower bed without tilling. Some people suggested adding compost as well, but I just worked with what I had at the time.
Then came the milkweed and butterfly weed.
And then I waited…
And waited some more.
I didn’t see any monarchs at all.
My new native plants were taking off, and the perennials in my other flower bed were blooming, but there were no monarchs.
I thought maybe it would just take some time. Perhaps I would have to wait until next year.
Oh well.
Then, one afternoon after work, I was pulling into our driveway when I saw one.
A monarch.
In my garden!!!
I was so excited that I actually stopped my car, shut off the engine, and got out.
There was a monarch in my garden! How exciting is this?!?!
And then I saw another one.
I’m in heaven!
But wait…
They weren’t even on my milkweed!
One was sitting on an annual blue salvia that I had planted in that same flower bed, and the other was just flitting around.
Still, that made my day.
I told everyone I knew the good news and even posted pictures on Facebook for everyone to see.
Exciting!
But I still hadn’t seen any caterpillars or eggs on my milkweed or butterfly weed.
Then one afternoon, while I was watering my garden, I saw something move.
I looked closer at my butterfly weed.
And there they were.
Caterpillars.
Of all sizes, munching away on the leaves!
How cool!
That’s when it dawned on me that the saying “Build it and they will come” really rings true.
I had planted the milkweed hoping that monarchs would find it, and somehow, while I was waiting and wondering if anything would happen, they had already found it.
I left the caterpillars where they were because I didn’t have any experience rearing them. I thought about researching how to do it, but honestly, I didn’t think I was ready for that yet.
So I watched.
I don’t know where some of those caterpillars ended up or whether they made it all the way to becoming monarchs. But I became attached to them—not to the point of naming them!—but I looked forward to seeing them every afternoon.
And then some disappeared.
Where did they go?
I started getting curious about predators and began researching what could be eating monarch caterpillars and how I could deter them naturally.
I learned that wasps are among the predators that can prey on monarch caterpillars. I also came across suggestions that herbs such as basil and rosemary may help deter some unwanted insects.
So, naturally, I got some starter herbs and placed them near and around the milkweed and butterfly weed.
And said a little prayer.
I didn’t know if it would work.
I was learning as I went.
But that’s really how my garden started to grow.
What started with a couple of milkweed plants slowly became a garden filled with plants for both monarch caterpillars and adult butterflies.
I added more milkweed and more nectar plants. Joe-Pye weed and oxeye sunflowers filled the summer garden, and New England asters would bring something for the fall.
And I kept seeing monarchs.
They would flit from plant to plant, and I would find myself wondering if they were the same monarchs I had seen before or newly emerged ones.
I still don’t know.
But maybe that’s part of what I love about gardening.
There is always something to notice.
Something to wonder about.
Something to learn.
And for me, it all started with milkweed.
