Wow good for you. Next yr,I hope to get milk weed going.Thank you for doing this.!

Sandy I saw a few in the buckwheat this morning. It is 3 ft tall and flowering. It has attracted more bees, butterflies and other beneficials than anything else I've planted to attract them. Although I hate too I will probably till it under tomorrow. I may plant some more but it will be a few weeks before it is attracting them. I read where it would be 30-40 days from germination before it should be flowering and need to be tilled under. This is 22 days today. It has grown fast. I tilled a row today that will be for tomatoes next spring. I will plant a cover crop in it in the next few days. I'm not sure if these are Monarchs traveling through or the few that have been here all summer. I will post when I see more. Jay

Thanks, Jay. It's hard to know about the Monarchs. Do you have wild milkweed in fields around you?

I am interested in your buckwheat. Where did you get your seed? I've read that it's a good nectar plant. Sound like you are seeing that firsthand. If you plow it under, the butterflies, bees, etc will find other nectar plants.

Sandy

I ordered mine from Nichols Garden Nursery. I ordered most of my cover crop seeds from them. I have ordered a variety of seeds from them the last few years. Their prices are comparable and their shipping is on the cheap side. It is a nursery in Oregon. I got an email from them this week with a peek at what they will be offering next year. They trialed an heirloom melon developed for clay soil named Pike that they are high on. I might have to try it next year even though I don't have clay soil. I've been going to ask Dawn if she has tried it. I see Southern Seed Exposure offers it also.
I had read it would attract the nectar feeders but it was amazing today to watch the numbers. I have a 70 ft row 4 ft wide and the whole row was covered. They would go over to the tomatoes and also the melons but most were staying in the buckwheat row. I have never seen that many bees around my garden ever. Jay

Sandy, we saw one Monarch on our butterfly bush only about ten minutes after we put the bush outside for the first time! That was on Monday.

We had a black swallowtail on it for 15 minutes last night too. I think the butterfly bush is going to prove a good investment!

Thanks for the reports, shallot and Jay. Knowing your general location is helpful. I know that Jay lives in SW Kansas, can you give me a county or nearest town? And shallot, can you do the same? I will be sharing your sightings with Journey south. They have interactive maps that will show your sightings, but not your names. This helps them to see where the Monarchs are. Thanks again for your responses!

And, Jay, thanks for the info on the buckwheat seed. I will check out both seed sources that you listed.

Sandy

Sandy I live in Elkhart, KS which is in Morton county. As I believe it was Carol that stated I sleep with one leg in OK and one in KS. Actually I live next to the city limits on the northern edge so about a mile and a half from the state line and ten miles from the Colorado line. I tilled just a little of the buckwheat under today. I will be gone most of tomorrow so it maybe Tuesday before I till it all under. Jay

Sandy, I've seen monarchs all summer but not in their usual numbers. Normally (though it is hard to know what is normal in our summers any more) I see quite a few because the fields here are filled with native milkweeds. Until the last couple of years, we have seen a lot when they are migrating, but I think the last really good year here when I saw a lot of them migrating was in 2010. I'll keep my eyes open for them.

Jay, I love Nichols and buy a lot of seeds from them! I have grown Pike and I really liked it. It was one of my father's favorite muskmelons long, long ago. I don't remember where I got the seed when I grew it, but likely it either was from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange or maybe Baker Creek.

I love buckwheat for the reasons you mentioned---it grows fast and blooms in practically no time from seed. The last time I bought buckwheat seed, I got it from Southern Exposure. My experience is like yours in that it grows and blooms more quickly from seed that you'd expect, based on its DTM. I suspect it grows so fast here because of our heat and intense sunlight, but that's just a guess. I sow buckwheat seed more for the little flying things than for the garden itself. If you grow buckwheat, you don't have to worry about not having bees around to pollinate your row crops. I also grow clover just outside the garden, and I plant it for the rabbits. As long as there is clover to eat, the cottontail rabbits won't even nibble the beans growing on the garden fence.

Dawn

Oklahoma City. Labor Day weekend.

Sand Hill Preservation Center has buckwheat in their catalog.

I haven't seen any Monarchs this year. Usually they eat my pink milkweed and climbing milkweed. The climbing milkweed is a weed but when blooming has a nice smell. I let it grow. It comes back in the same place every year. It can be a pest so be careful.

helenh, we have always had climbing milkweed wherever I have lived especially if there is a chain link fence. I get it coming up through shrubs too. Arg! I always wonder, considering how prolific this stuff is, do we have a shortage of milkweed here in Oklahoma? Do the monarchs like it?

I have Antelope Horns milkweed and I bought Arizona milkweed this spring. Then I read you should only plant local types, that it had something to do with regions and that monarchs are adapted to the specific types in each region and that it is not good to plant a non-regional kind, The article was referring to a tropical variety (cannot remember which one). I got the Arizona milkweed because I just liked the look of it. It hasn't gotten aphids, and that's a first for me with any kind of milkweed.