Well my internet has been wonky for a few days so there is a lot to report! Since my last update I have been collecting more eggs at work and home. The caterpillar and egg count is now up to 203!!! I never, never thought I would ever find that many eggs! I have even found 3 swallowtail bytterflies on the one curly parsley plant I have. Alas I cannot find their chrysalis'.

But I digress...So 203 eggs but the real results will be when I release the last butterfly for their journey to Mexico. Yep folks, these butterflies are the last generation to be hatched here and they will put off mating until they reach their overwintering forest in Mexico. Normally only 10% of the eggs laid will mature into butterflies but when people take them in and rear them indoors there is a much hight success rate.

Tonight there are 40 chrysalis' and I think 2 will hatch tomorrow. I just added 7 more 1 inch caterpillars to the caterpillar house yesterday. So in the boxes in the house I have many many caterpillars in differing stages and lots of eggs. So when I add caterpillars to the house I fill it up with more new eggs! more news tomorrow...

Caterpiller Mania!

The caterpillar house is getting full! There are about 35 little guys in there eating away! The egg + caterpillar count is 170! I have released 13 butterflies. I have noticed that the caterpillars that have been living outside in the caterpillar house eat more, longer and grow much larger than the ones I have raised totally indoors. Hmmm.....

A monarch egg is usually laid on the underside of a milkweed leaf (any species can be used) and is about the size of a pinhead. The eggs can also appear on stems, topside of the leaf and inthe flower cluster. When looking at it with a magnifying lens it is yellow and conical in shape and appears to have ribs. When it is ready to hatch it will have a little black spot in it, that is the caerpillar's head. After it hatches, it eats the egg casing because there are rich nutrients in it. After eating the egg the caterpillar will eat a small hole or ring around the area. That is a good way of seeing where the caterpillars are, but you have to catch the hatchling brfore it gets eaten and that will be very soon after hatching. I look for eggs everyday and take them indoors. I have been very lucky this year that I have found about 9 caterpillars, one was 3rd instar stage and turned into the chrysalis today. Very exciting! As of this evening my total count is 98 eggs, 9 caterpillars and of those 15 are in chrysalis form. The first chrysalis will hatch tomorrow!

Caterpillar watch 2010

So this year I am taking in borders for the summer. Yep you heard me and I don't even have to cook for them! All I need to do is bring the little guys leaves every day.
This is my 4th year taking in monarch butterfly eggs. The reason why I do it is because I have seen insects eat the eggs before they hatch so if I take the eggs in the house instead of waiting for the eggs to hatch I would be much more successful at releasing adult monarch butterflies. Since they are a realtively threatened species, this helps keep their numbers up.
So where do you start? in late June, I begin checking the undersides of the three species of milkweed that I grow. They seem to favor common milkweed. A few days ago I sat in the car when I pulled up after work on a hot sunny afternoon and I observed a female monarch make her rounds through the garden laying eggs on the milkweed plants.
I bring the eggs in on the leaves and dig out my flat tupperware containers that my sis passed on to me. This way I can stack the boxes without taking a lot of room. I put 1 or 2 pieces of slightly dampened paper towel on the bottom of the box. Airtight boxes are best. The paper towel and the airtight nature of the tupperware keeps the leaves from drying up.
Once the eggs hatch they eat their egg casing first because it is rich in nutrients and they make a hole around it. that is how I know they have hatched and how I know I have missed many eggs out in the garden. Cleaning the boxes is necessary about every two days at this stage (their poops are really small) Keeping the boxes as clean as possible for their health is very important.
So far, as of today I have collected 47 eggs and found two caterpillars (pretty rare) and tonight I count 6 chrysalis' .

Post plant sale

Ah the annual plant sale of plants from my garden. It is always a great time to get to know my neighbors, talk about gardening. I still have a lot of plants left over and I will continue to sell until they are gone.
Anyhoo, there are some spectacular plants blooming in the garden today. I planted Salvia 'Purple Rain' last year and it is now my favorite one. Don't get me wrong 'Caradonna' is great and all...
I am also really impressed with my 'Nigra' hollyhock in bloom starting this week. Oh my

What I Learned About Mulch...

So why am I having this plant sale? Why bother? Well my garden seems to have exploded in fertility in the past 2 springs.
It all started about 4 years ago when I ordered mulch. Little did I know that the size of the mulch chunks had a huge effect on the garden! I used to mulch every spring because my mulch would deteriorate so fast. I really liked the small chunk dark brown mulch. It made a nice dark background in the garden and made the plant -to-mulch look much more dramatic. Well shoot, what I did not know was that I layed the mulch too thick and air did not flow between the small chunks very well at all. The result was an expensive lesson in fungi invasion and crown rot disease. I lost a lot of plants and a few expensive ones. I had to thin out that layer of mulch and allow it to deteriorate completely. I kept the soil bare for 3 summers/winters. My hope was to take away the habitat that the fungi needed and they would dissipate. It seems to have worked ok. What I did not expext was the seed germination boom that I had. Without my mulch layer seeds were exposed to the sun and germinated. Whoa- jungle city.

So how do you prevent this fungi problem? There are few things to remember about mulching a garden, here they are:
-Mulch with small chunk mulch once a year @ 1-2" thick
-OR Mulch with larger chunk mulch and make it 3" thick and mulch every other year.
-Never- mulch right up to the stem of the plant- you will smother it and or keep the environment too moist and fungi will develop, this goes for annuals to perennials to shrubs and especially trees.
When mulch gets compacted, fluff it to provide air circulation under it. Otherwise fingi will begin to grow. This is usually needed in spring after snow has compacted it.

I am sure you are asking right now- why bother? Can't I just lay down that rubber stuff in a rainbow of colors?
Ahhh no, speaking from a plant/soil health point of view, natural wood mulch is far superior to all other options. Including stone mulch. Wood mulch deteriorates because the soil organisms are breaking it down, this results in a substance called humus (not the delicious dip from Greece) . Humus (hyoo mes) is a part of the soil make up and it is needed for it's nutrients. Basically your much breaks down and provides a little fertilizer for your plants. Cool.
Some other good reasons for mulching your garden are:
Cools the soil and keeps roots at a constant temperature. Reduces water loss from hot summer temps
Prevents weeds
Provides a uniform soil covering
Breaks down and feeds the plants
Prevents winter heaving by keeping the soil at a constant temp
Prevent seeds from germinating
You do need to replenish your mulch layer every 1-2 years.

The draw backs to the other mulch alternatives are many but the advantages of natural wood mulch outway the disadvantages.
Stone mulch heats up in the sun and heats the soil- water loss is the result. Almost impossible to get rid of without a backhoe.
Rubber- EXPENSIVE! Those colors are tacky too, Don't even get me started on dyes red mulch- sheesh!
Fabric- does not allow all the water to pass through it and weeds grow on top of it anyway.

Well I hoped this helped you, and as always- leave me a question or two.
Dolly

My Garden

So, my gardens are almost 10 years old. They are growing pretty big and crowded. Time to split plants. I will have a plant sale next month, all healthy, disease free and reasonably priced. The date is June 5th, noon to 4. If you need directions just post a message.

My garden used to be called "The Collection" by my gardening friends. It was literally a collection of onesies- one of dis one of dat... I now see the value of repetition and have a lot of seedlings due to a mulching incident, but more on mulching later. I also repeat a lot of plants because I like making flower arrangements and I couldn't make very many each summer, now I have more than enough plants. I try to sneak the repeaters in here and there so when I cut there are not large open spaces without blooms.

I love planting for butterflies and was delighted to see a red admiral and viceroy last week! I don't use pesticides. Today I saw a monarch, I am pretty sure it was a male staking his territory. They are really territorial.

I was out today working on my containers and I saw a red admiral and painted lady. They really like my Allium flowers. mOre on all these subjects as we travel on through the summer. If you have a queastion, just post it! Thanks for reading my blog....