Grow Milkweed Plants Podcast
Texas Monarch Migration 2015 - Episode 006
Texas Monarch Migration 2015
Migrating monarchs pass thru Texas in early spring. In addition to great BBQ and a vibrant music scene, Austin is a great location to enjoy the first generation of the 2015 monarchs. If these first generation monarchs are successful in locating milkweed then the relay race to Canada will be successful. The Texas milkweed is super important and provides a habitat that allows the monarch to reproduce. My hope is that you will grow more milkweed and it will lead to a monarch butterfly population explosion!
Welcome to grow milkweed plants podcast. This podcast is brought to you by milkweed plants. Milkweed plants makes the monarch butterfly possible. If you would like to help this podcast then you can start by planting and growing a milkweed plant. More information is available at my website www.GrowMilkweedPlants.com a link will be available in the show notes.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was the first stop on a quest for milkweed plants and monarch butterflies. At the entrance was a volunteer who pointed out a nesting Great Horned Owl. The baby birds had just hatched but were out of sight on the high ledge. Ashley, my wife, immediately noticed the turtles in the pond next to us. I was very pleased that the volunteer knew of at least two locations where I could seen milkweed. The first plant was nearby. It is located in the Family Gardens and the species is Antelope-Horns. It was my first time seeing antelope-horns and my first impression was that it was smaller than I expected. But Antelope-Horns makes up for its low growing size by putting out an amazing flower bloom in the summer. I could already see the blossom forming on this plant even though it was merely early April.
As my wife and I walked the grounds there was endless bluebonnets in bloom as far as the eye could see. But that wasn’t all. I also located an additional seven Antelope-Horns and a Swamp milkweed plant. I was tipped off about the swamp milkweed plant by an acquaintance on twitter who goes by @spiderwort52 spelled - s p i d e r w o r t 5 2 Needless to say it was nice to see the additional plant. It was located in a half barrel planter next to an insectarium. The insectarium was closed but will reopen for the Summer months and it is likely to display monarchs in all phases of their life cycle.
Our last trail at the Lady bird Johnson Wildflower Center was out along the Texas Hill Country Path. After seeing a few more Antelope-Horns we sat down for a rest on chair swings beneath the oak trees. It wasn’t long before I darted out of the swing toward the edge of the meadow. Low and behold I saw a monarch butterfly scouting out the flowers. There was a good breeze blowing and the monarch was moving quickly. Had I not been exercising respect for the wildflower meadow I would have chased after the monarch for a close up photo. But because I was visiting such a special place for wildflowers I decided I would follow the rules and stay on the path. Within a few moments the monarch had passed by and was out of sight.
There milkweed I found in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was very healthy and free of aphids but I did not locate any caterpillars nor did I see any monarch eggs on the plants. A few days later in San Antonio the reverse was true.
My wife and I picked a day with cool temp's to enjoy the Riverwalk. It may have been due to the cool temps and overcast skies or it could be something different but I did not see any monarch butterflies in San Antonio on Saturday April 4th. It was pretty nice to see that the San Antonio River Authority milkweed garden was maintained and even more exciting to see the monarch caterpillar and eggs in a city park environment.
San Antonio River Authority made a milkweed garden in 2009 it is south of the Pearl Brewery. I counted 26 Tropical milkweed plants from previous years. Numerous plants were sprouting from seed in the garden bed. I checked the underside of many of the milkweed leaves. I found one monarch caterpillar that had hatched in the last day. In addition to that tiny caterpillar were three monarch eggs located on the underside of leaves. Two eggs were on the same plant and one egg was on the plant right next to the plant with the caterpillar.
I have found pretty good success with following milkweed observations using iNaturalist.org the milkweed plants I expected to locate in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center were there and I added about three additional observations for Antelope-Horns. One catch about using public observations is that the location data isn't always precise. One reason may be cellular and GPS coverage in remote locations. When I went looking for Antelope-Horns at McKinney Falls State Park It was not till I had walked the entire 2.8 mile trail that I realized that the observation I was searching for had an accuracy of 2333 meters from the pinned location of the observation. While I appreciate the observation, I am reminded that the observations shared are bread crumbs that someone behind me may be following. I try to be sure my iPhone has good location accuracy for my own observations. This makes it easier for you to visit the plants I am sharing on websites like iNaturalist.org
I have found pretty good success with following milkweed observations using iNaturalist.org and PlantsMap.com do you grow and sell milkweed in a nursery business? Visit www.GrowMilkweedPlants.com/grower
Migrating monarchs pass thru Texas in early spring. In addition to great BBQ and a vibrant music scene, Austin is a great location to enjoy the first generation of the 2015 monarchs. If these first generation monarchs are successful in locating milkweed then the relay race to Canada will be successful. The Texas milkweed is super important and provides a habitat that allows the monarch to reproduce. My hope is that you will grow more milkweed and it will lead to a monarch butterfly population explosion!
Welcome to grow milkweed plants podcast. This podcast is brought to you by milkweed plants. Milkweed plants makes the monarch butterfly possible. If you would like to help this podcast then you can start by planting and growing a milkweed plant. More information is available at my website www.GrowMilkweedPlants.com a link will be available in the show notes.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was the first stop on a quest for milkweed plants and monarch butterflies. At the entrance was a volunteer who pointed out a nesting Great Horned Owl. The baby birds had just hatched but were out of sight on the high ledge. Ashley, my wife, immediately noticed the turtles in the pond next to us. I was very pleased that the volunteer knew of at least two locations where I could seen milkweed. The first plant was nearby. It is located in the Family Gardens and the species is Antelope-Horns. It was my first time seeing antelope-horns and my first impression was that it was smaller than I expected. But Antelope-Horns makes up for its low growing size by putting out an amazing flower bloom in the summer. I could already see the blossom forming on this plant even though it was merely early April.
As my wife and I walked the grounds there was endless bluebonnets in bloom as far as the eye could see. But that wasn’t all. I also located an additional seven Antelope-Horns and a Swamp milkweed plant. I was tipped off about the swamp milkweed plant by an acquaintance on twitter who goes by @spiderwort52 spelled - s p i d e r w o r t 5 2 Needless to say it was nice to see the additional plant. It was located in a half barrel planter next to an insectarium. The insectarium was closed but will reopen for the Summer months and it is likely to display monarchs in all phases of their life cycle.
Our last trail at the Lady bird Johnson Wildflower Center was out along the Texas Hill Country Path. After seeing a few more Antelope-Horns we sat down for a rest on chair swings beneath the oak trees. It wasn’t long before I darted out of the swing toward the edge of the meadow. Low and behold I saw a monarch butterfly scouting out the flowers. There was a good breeze blowing and the monarch was moving quickly. Had I not been exercising respect for the wildflower meadow I would have chased after the monarch for a close up photo. But because I was visiting such a special place for wildflowers I decided I would follow the rules and stay on the path. Within a few moments the monarch had passed by and was out of sight.
There milkweed I found in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was very healthy and free of aphids but I did not locate any caterpillars nor did I see any monarch eggs on the plants. A few days later in San Antonio the reverse was true.
My wife and I picked a day with cool temp's to enjoy the Riverwalk. It may have been due to the cool temps and overcast skies or it could be something different but I did not see any monarch butterflies in San Antonio on Saturday April 4th. It was pretty nice to see that the San Antonio River Authority milkweed garden was maintained and even more exciting to see the monarch caterpillar and eggs in a city park environment.
San Antonio River Authority made a milkweed garden in 2009 it is south of the Pearl Brewery. I counted 26 Tropical milkweed plants from previous years. Numerous plants were sprouting from seed in the garden bed. I checked the underside of many of the milkweed leaves. I found one monarch caterpillar that had hatched in the last day. In addition to that tiny caterpillar were three monarch eggs located on the underside of leaves. Two eggs were on the same plant and one egg was on the plant right next to the plant with the caterpillar.
I have found pretty good success with following milkweed observations using iNaturalist.org the milkweed plants I expected to locate in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center were there and I added about three additional observations for Antelope-Horns. One catch about using public observations is that the location data isn't always precise. One reason may be cellular and GPS coverage in remote locations. When I went looking for Antelope-Horns at McKinney Falls State Park It was not till I had walked the entire 2.8 mile trail that I realized that the observation I was searching for had an accuracy of 2333 meters from the pinned location of the observation. While I appreciate the observation, I am reminded that the observations shared are bread crumbs that someone behind me may be following. I try to be sure my iPhone has good location accuracy for my own observations. This makes it easier for you to visit the plants I am sharing on websites like iNaturalist.org
I have found pretty good success with following milkweed observations using iNaturalist.org and PlantsMap.com do you grow and sell milkweed in a nursery business? Visit www.GrowMilkweedPlants.com/grower
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