Cassie,
I've posted the link here.
Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: tdogmom's blog

Thanks so much Cathy. I am wanting to grow milkweed from seed and I remember reading her blog and thinking that her instructions were so thorough.

Have a great day!

You're welcome, Cassie. Do you have milkweed seeds? If not, I can send you some.

Yes, Sherry's blog is fantastic. It covers about anything you could think of concerning Monarchs. I've shown the blog to my birding friends and they think it's great too. They enjoyed seeing me post my butterfly pictures so much that some of them also wanted to plant for the butterflies and probably a dozen of them are also raising cats. :) I like to spread the word, as I'm sure others on here do too. Hee hee. They are finding out how rewarding it is when they see that butterfly take flight. Just typing about it gives me goosebumps. I wonder if I'll ever get over that? I don't think I want to!

Thanks, Cassie, and you have a great day too!

Cathy

Cathy,

I feel exactly the same way (the goosebumps). I'm not sure everybody "understands" that.

Like the other day when I was telling a mom from my daughter's school about gardening for butterflies and she looked at me like I was crazy. She has enlisted her son to be the "caterpillar killer" in her herb garden:( I told her to call me anytime and I will drive to her house and take them off her hands! I think she thought I was kidding at first but I kept telling her I was serious(I'm still not sure she thinks I am). I will definitely bug her about it in the Spring so she KNOWS I'm serious HEE HEE!

I too like to spread the word. I've been trying to propogate some passionvine for a few of my neighbors who are very interested. That's what got me hooked!

It's funny you ask about the seed because just today I found a pod split open and have the seeds from that. Do you start your seeds indoors or out? I was wanting to get them started now so they could be more established in Spring. What has worked best for you? Thanks again!

Cassie

Cassie,
I was almost done typing you a reply late last night when all of a sudden it went back a screen and I lost everything I typed. I wasnt in any mood to retype it, so IÂll do that now.

As I was saying..lolÂitÂs too bad that so many people (like that mom) are so ignorant about nature or know and donÂt care anyway. ThatÂs great of you to offer to get the caterpillars that show up in her garden! I hope that she calls you if she sees any. I was posting about the BSTs on the bird forum that I got on and showed a picture. One of the members was so upset and said sheÂs been killing them, that she just didnÂt know any better. She also said that sheÂd never do that again. IÂve been trying to educate people over there, and I bet about a dozen of them have started raising butterflies. Hee hee. I just love it! Seriously, it makes me wonder why people donÂt stop and think, "What is that caterpillar? Should I be killing it or not? Will it turn into a nice butterfly or moth someday? ItÂs just eating to survive and maybe I should cover some plants for my own use." I really wonder where peopleÂs heads are at sometimes. Where do they think butterflies come from, the butterfly fairy??!! I donÂt know why these things upset me but they do.. I didnÂt get into butterflies and join the forum until last year and didnÂt really pay much attention to butterflies before then, but at least I knew that caterpillars will turn into either a butterfly or a moth.

Yes, if I were you, I would definitely bug that lady in the spring about those caterpillars. Haha. I wonder if people we say these things to think that we have bats in our belfry. Nah, just butterflies.

ThatÂs really nice of you to be propagating passionvine for your neighbors. You have an ulterior motive, though, huh? Lol Well, if they saw yours and thought it was pretty (who wouldnÂt?!) and wanted some, then thatÂs great that they will be getting some. PLUS they will have the added bonus of hopefully getting some cats on the plants! I would probably tell them ahead of time about its wanting to spread out so you donÂt end up having neighbors mad at you. ;-)

IÂm psychic, thatÂs why I asked you about the milkweed seed. Haha..kidding! Well, I donÂt know how far south you are or what type of milkweed youÂre talking about, but I definitely start my Tropical Milkweed indoors since itÂs only an annual up here and couldnÂt take any cold temps. So if IÂd start it outside the end up April from seed, IÂm not even sure it would get big/old enough to have seed pods for me to get seeds from to plant the next year. IÂve hardly even gotten any TMW seed from mine yet and weÂve already had a frost, so I hope that the seeds in all the pods are okay yet.

Swamp Milkweed will live up here from year to year, of course (IÂm in PA btw). IÂve done mine two different ways. One method is to plant them in individual pots in the fall and let them sit outside all winter, checking occasionally to make sure that the soil doesnÂt get dried out. This first method is my preferred method. Planting in the fall gives me something to do in my not-so-busy time of the year rather than put them all in containers in the spring when I have all of my other things IÂm planting. You can also raise the SMW inside and plant it out in the spring but you have to prepare it first if youÂre going to raise it this way; otherwise, the germination rate will be very poor. IÂll include a link in case you donÂt know about all that. I just think itÂs easier to plant them in containers in the fall and let them sit outside in the freezing weather that we get here. It wouldn't hurt to read that whole page that I'm giving the link to, but what I was referring to is the paragraph with the heading Vernalization.

Cathy