I said plants, but meant cuttings. :-)

I would prefer to keep the cuttings under ideal conditions like this if possible. It's cool, humid, and enough light to simulate cloudy conditions outdoors without the freezing temps. :-)

randy

Sorry if I'm wearin' some of you experienced folks out. :-)

Looks like Amber's about to be a momma.

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randy

Yes, she is!!! Tell her we all said congratulations! Your setup looks great, Randy, and the cuttings look very healthy and not like they're wilting at all. I'm so excited for you!

We want to know Amber's reaction, too, so please fill us in.

Susan

Met Linda at the Farmers Market this morning. Had a great visit and bought some nice plants from Marilyn to go with the ones Linda brought me.

Linda was also nice enough to bring me a container and show me how she keeps eggs on leaves until they hatch. Thanks!

randy

Hey, Randy. That was fun. So great to finally meet you! And, and, SUSAN, We have "Black willows"!!! Two a piece. Thanks sooo much Randy. That was so sweet of you to wade in the swollen creek to dig us up so willows. :) I will pot them up, Susan, and get them to you when we get together. We may have to postpone it, if everything I have gets froze back tonight. :( Randy, thanks for coming. Hope that you enjoyed it.

I don't know how low that it got here. There was some ice on the bird baths, but no frost on the windshield or grass. Everything looks alright, aside from my Salvia Black and Blue looking a lil curled on the leaf tips. They make a thermometer for compost piles. Wonder if that would give me the ground temp? Wonder if those wireless devices really show me the outdoor highs and lows? Randy?

Randy, you just missed Elaine by 1 hour!!! She came and got a couple of flats of cool Butterfly plants. I'm planning to come to Norman this summer and see Elaine's and Randy's Butterfly havens!!! Thanks for coming, Elaine.! :)

You can just imagine. I had such a "boring" time. Marilyn had such a nice crowd all coming thru all day. People wanting to know what the different plants were, and what they attracted. I talked "Butterfly gardens" from 8a.m. to about 11:30a.m. It was heaven!!! Marilyn gave a free lil potted parsley plant to every small child that came thru. That was so neat. She would show them pictures of what the Black swallowtail cat looked like, and then pics of Black swallowtail. Their eyes would get soo biggg! It was wonderful! And, the parents were so thankful. I just loved it. Does it take very long for parsley to germinate? I should have some lil pots of plants to give away when I do some talks.

Even, David Walker from the OKC Zoo came by with his kids. He got some tropical milkweed.

The greatest thing was being able to share my love of Butterfly gardening with others. I really loved it. As a side bonus, I got $15.00 knocked off of my plant bill. Can't complain, eh? :)

Randy, you may want to get some cuttings of the viridis, and stick them in a baggy in the fridge, just in case of a freeze. When the eggs start to turn dark, I always put in a "fresh" leaf in the container near the darkened egg for them to have something fresh to crawl up on when they hatch.

Another important thing is that when they are ready to change their skin, and go to another instar (The next size up.), they will usually crawl off the plant onto the side of the container. Do not try to move them back onto the plant as much as you would want to help them. They will die if disturbed.

I usually keep them in the containers until they get alot bigger. They are alot easier to find, and keep track of in the smaller containers. If you have hatchlings and eggs together, sometimes the cats will eat the other eggs. So, it's better to keep the eggs and particularly slightly older cats apart. When they get larger, you can move them to your cool cage.

Change the paper towel daily, so they won't have to crawl around in the caterpillar poop. And always sterilize the containers with 10% bleach solution before putting in other cats.

When you cats get a lil larger, they will probably be more willing to accept the tropical milkweed. Mine usually balk about changing food when they are quite small.

There are a million different ways to raise caterpillars. These just are some hints that I've found works well for me. After you've raised a few, you will find out what works best for you.

Wow, Linda! Aren't you glad the sale was INSIDE and not outside today? Whew, I think the high was like 38 here.

Thanks for picking up the cuttings for me. I'm not sure I will be ready by Thursday this week anyway. Since it's been so cold, and is still going to be somewhat cool throughout the week, I think we had best wait and see how my milkweeds do, and also allow me some time to get out and pot them up, too. When it's cool, I don't get outside as much.

Thank you, Randy, for the willow plants! I must bring something to you. Maybe some common milkweed plants from my seedlings and some others milkweed species, too?

I'm glad to see how substantial the foliage is on viridis! Some milkweeds don't have very substantial foliage, like verticillata for example. It's foliage is almost like that of fennel - very fine, feathery like.

I have some solidago seeds of 'Wichita Mountains', too. I don't know if they will come true or not. But this is the solidago that was introduced by the guy who owns Sunshine Nursery in Clinton, Oklahoma. He's really into native plants. I would love to make a trip out there as well.

So, anyway, Linda and Elaine - let's plan for the week after next if that's okay. That will give me some time to see first off, if the milkweed plants are okay, and to get some potted up, get the backyard cleaned up a bit. I will make a pitcher of tea and get some cookies or something for us to munch on, too.

Susan

That's sounds better for me too, Susan. I sure don't know what I'll have after tonight. I hope that it does not get as low as what they're talking. And, it is too cold!!!!

We missed you today. It was alot of fun. Hope that you're feeling better. :)

My eggs are hatching, and I have Monarch cats!!! You will too next spring, when your native mws get to going.

Linda

I have 3 or 4 soil thermometers and they come in handy. Mid summer they help me gauge if roots on some plants in containers may need more shade or more sun.

I really appreciate the info on the containers and handling cats.

Good to hear you have cats. Hopefully we're not far behind. :-)

Susan

Some native milkweeds sound nice. I'm probably sitting pretty good on tropical. Started quite a few from seed, bought 5 nice sized ones yesterday, and bought a couple Gomphocarpus physocarpus too just to see how cats like them. Like the idea they seem to be quick growers.

Temps dipped below freezing twice during the night here. Had a break in the cloud cover around 2:00am and it dropped to 28 quickly. By 4:00 it had warmed back up with the cloud cover over us again to 34. Dropped to 30 at sunrise with frost and some visible minor damage on foliage of some broad leaf weeds in the yard.

randy

I'll save a few for you, Randy!

Susan

Thanks Susan.

I found this a few minutes ago. Is it the real deal?
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randy

Randy,
Congratulations on your Monarchs! I hope you have fun.

Susan,
It is no problem to put it off for a week, if it would be any easier, you and Linda are very welcome to come to my house. I think I'm about 20-25 min. South of Susan. Either way is fine with me!

Elaine

Randy, I don't think that the temps gots as low here last night as they did the night before. There wasn't any ice in my birdbath this a.m. Did you go out and check your thermometers every couple of hours last night??? I think that Channel 9 said we had a low of 34 last night.

Randy, that is not a Monarch cat. It is probably one of the milkweed bugs, but not for sure which one. There are lots of bugs that habit the milkweed.

Randy, are your "soil thermometers" the long ones for compost? Or do they make shorter ones? If they are the longer ones, do you just stick them into the soil a couple of inches?

I have my Monarch egg containers in the kitchen. That may be why they are hatching sooner than yours. Unfortunately, some of the cats have died. I may not have brought them in soon enough. :(

Linda,

I'm a very light sleeper when weather may get bad. Sleep in sweats so I can slip on my crocks and a jacket and check on things through the night.

Thanks. It didn't look like a monarch cat under the lens, but I thought I might get a 2nd opinion.

The soil probes are short ones, about the length of a ink pen.

randy

Linda,

Checked containers this morning and found 5 monarch cats munching on leaves.

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randy

Congrats, congrats, congrats, Amber (and Randy) :) !!
You've been so smart in the way you're taking care of your MW through the cold weather!
It never got anywhere near as cold here as they predicted, so everything is just fine.
Marilyn sounds wonderful! Especially when she has Linda to teach people about butterfly gardening - there's no telling how many people are now converts!
And congrats on the willows, too. I've got a newly planted one that's growing like a weed. Willows are great host plants - they host several butterflies and many moths.
MissSherry

Congrats! Congrats! Randy. I'm sure that Amber is one excited lil Mama! And, that you are pretty excited, yourself. Raising Monarchs from eggs has got to be one of the most rewarding, "feel good inside" things that I have ever done. It sure brings out the "inner child" in you.

Alot of us on this Forum have been known to go out in our "Pj's" at night with flashlights, hunting for "caterpillar food". In the heat of the summer, getting cuttings late in the evening or early morning helps prevent the cuttings from wilting so bad.

Thanks for the info on the soil probes. I visited with Marilyn about her potting soil and she says that she uses the Sungro SB300 mix and "Tarfus?" You had mentioned using that in your mixes in an earlier post. Do you get yours locally? Is it available for retail?

Thanks MissSherry

You can tell Marilyn takes great pride in her plants. They were all very nice. So were the freebies from Linda. :-)

Linda,

Marilyn's soil mix looked pretty good. Mine has a little more drainage than hers.

Turface is a commercial soil component used on athletic fields to promote fast drainage. It's what the base lines and warning track is covered with on professional baseball fields.

I buy it in quantities from my local feed and seed or by the bag on occasion from American Plant Products in OKC. I ship it to eBayers.

Transferred all the cats to fresh leaves. There were 7 so far. That is tedious! I wouldn't have tried it without my freestanding lighted hand lens and a fine soft bristled artist brush. I guess they attach themselves to the leaf with a web to keep from getting blown off.

randy

Here is a link that might be useful: Turface

Randy, thanks for the info "again" on Turface. I will call around and ask for it. I found some really fine bark mulch at TLC that I plan to try in my mix. The Rue really like good drainage. Did you get you some? Didn't you mention mixing Turface in the ground soil for better drainage?

Marilyn mentioned using American Plant Products, but I believe that is is strickly "wholesale".

You can put the fresh leaves next to the old leaves with the cats, and they will crawl onto the new leaves. I try not to move the fresh cats any more than I have to.

They do make a webbing to help keep them on the leaf. Is Amber having a great time?

Linda, usually they will sell to the general public, too. I've bought Felco pruners from them, and pots, too. They sell big lots of plastic pots. This is Rodd Moesel's business; his parents used to own (not sure if they still do, because they were both in ill health) Moesel's Hort-Haven. I guess he caught the bug from his parents. It is generally wholesale, but you can still get things from him. He's the only source I found for Felco's locally.

He and his parents used to grow lots of rare begonias, too, but don't know that he does that anymore.

Susan

Thank you, Susan. That is really good to know!!! :) Moesel's used to be one of my very favorite places to stop. I could always find something unusual in there, and they were both very helpful. I got my very 1st Coralbells from there, very attractive to the earlier hummingbirds. And, some Catchfly wildflower that reseeds, and still comes up today, that the butterflies love to go to. They were very instrumentive in the pioneer nursery business in OKC. I enjoy reading Rodd's gardening articles in the paper. I'm for sure that his father died, but don't remember about his mother.

I will definitely stop the next time that Im in OKC.

How's your toe? Feeling better?

You're right, and I had forgotten that. Marjorie is still alive I think. I knew that neither were in very good health. Rodd is very active in politics here in OKC as well. I also am acquainted with Bob Calvert (of Calvert's landscaping). I haven't been to his greenhouse, but have heard he has lots of rare, beautiful tropical plants. I think that's where a friend of mine got his Mexican Flame vine. Either there or at Satterlees. Both are kind of expensive, but I've been known to shop Satterlees when I am looking for something I am unable to find elsewhere. Bob's parents, Merrill and Kathleen were big begonia growers in the state - in the nation, in fact. Merrill focused primarily on cacti. There yard was filled with tulip trees, I do remember that. If only I'd known that then!

Anyway, I worked for Bill Price, who ran for Governor of Oklahoma in the 80s, and was the U.S. Attorney for the Western District (federal court). He and Rodd are good buddies, too. Bill had some interesting clientele. Mostly white collar crime. I did not like being involved in criminal law, and he was the only one in the office that even represented any and only at the federal level. I mostly did estate planning and probate work, some corporate and non-profit. Dull and boring I know. But, if any of you don't have any estate planning done, I highly recommend at least a Durable Power of Attorney and Advance Directive for Health Care (Living Will), if not a will and/or trust if you have property and children.

Susan