At this time last year, my common milkweed plant had been completely denuded of all leaves by the Monarch's. This year, I added the a. incarnata, a. tuberosa, and a. currascivica. I have lots of milkweed foliage, but I have not seen even one Monarch this year. I live in MD also...perhaps the lack of Monarch's is regional?

Bob

No monarchs here yet, either. I check daily for eggs.

I have also not seen any orange aphids.

I have, however, seen milkweed tussock moths hanging out on some dogbane.

Jeff

The absence of monarch eggs/cats isn't unusual this time of year as I usually see them in July and later. It's the absence of any of the "pests", especially the Swamp Milkweed beetles, that seems so odd to me.

My Monarch count is way down. But I have plenty of the other bugs! Saw my first Queen of the season two weekends ago. Saw my first Gulf Frit this weekend. Such a slow start!

My milkweeds always look gorgeous, then get nasty just before the monarchs arrive. Last year I had my first eggs in early July. My milkweeds were also up much earlier this year than I can remember in the past. Even my tuberosa's, which normally only sprout in early June, were up by Mothers Day. On another note, I did squash my first japanese beetle (well, a relative anyway), and it's also much earlier than usual. Sigh...
At least a BST left me 2 eggs about 2 weeks ago that are happily chomping down the dill ;)

I actually found three Monarch cats yesterday, which is really early for me. I've never had much luck attracting Monarchs to my garden, and usually never until into July and August. I couldn't believe it when I saw these guys munching last night. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled all summer, now.

Martha