Monarch Caterpillars

Posted on by David

 

Two monarch caterpillars munching on a swamp milkweed in my backyard garden.  Within 72 hours they decimated the plant eating all the leaves and leaving just two barren stalks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just something I snuck in.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by.

All photos taken with a Nikon D7100 and a Sigma 105mm macro lens

15 thoughts on “Monarch Caterpillars”

    • Thank you Eliza. My first foray into milkweed was a mini disaster. I sowed common milkweed seed but only one plant appeared because heavy rains washed the seeds away. However a half dozen or so other plants started to spring up “spontaneously”. Turn out common milkweed is an aggressive spreader via its rhizomes; not good for my small garden. I started pulling stalks out to get rid of it. The rhizomes would be as much as six inches deep and spread three to four feet from its starting point. After three years I still have to pull a few out each season. The swamp milkweed is much slower at spreading and better for a small garden.

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      • Yes, the common milkweed is an aggressive spreader and the bane of cattle farmers as it is toxic to cattle. I think that is why they used herbicide to get rid of it, creating a problem for the monarchs.
        Both the pink swamp and orange/yellow milkweeds are clump-forming, so are better behaved in the garden.

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    • Thank you for taking the time to comment. I apologize for the delay in responding to your comment but I have my site set up so that first time commenters have to get approved first, after that the comments appear as soon as posted. I agree the monarch is pretty special in both phases of its life cycle.

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