Collecting Milkweed Pods During World War II We lived in a small, prosperous town in the middle of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, a very fertile valley, good for growing fruits and vegetables, still an area of small farms and truck gardens, with a range of mountains to the north and south. We were a family of […]
In 2014, students and teachers worked together to create a monarch butterfly garden on the campus of Forsyth School in the city of St. Louis. Fifth grade big friends and junior kindergarten little friends installed 120 milkweed plants, Asclepias incarnata, about one foot apart, to serve as a food source for monarch caterpillars as well […]
My sister and I planted milkweed in our gardens for several years before we actually found monarch caterpillars. Each year we would discuss our milkweed and wonder where the caterpillars could be. Then, one summer evening, she invited me to dinner. As I was standing in her kitchen, unaware, she suddenly asked me to go […]
My first love of gardening and all nature started as a child with numerous camping and fishing trips with my parents. My father always taught us the beauty of nature and of need to protect and share it. As an adult my garden has always been a place of beauty but also a learning experience […]
I have been raising Monarch butterflies in my kitchen for years. They do not usually survive if I leave them outside on the milkweed plants in my yard. Success inside is 99%. I released seven in the spring. I had one caterpillar in July this year. Currently (8/18/2017) I have twenty-one caterpillars in my kitchen. […]