Ooooh, good question! I will do some more digging, but I really doubt it. They are in the same family, Apocynaceae but not the same genus. From what I can gather, the caterpillars prefer plants in the genus Asclepias. Hoyas originated on the other side of the globe from monarchs, I really doubt they would recognize them as a food source despite the relationship. I am not sure how big Apocynaceae is, but to give you an idea... Apples, Roses, and Strawberries are all in the same family. There is a pretty big degree of difference at the family level, look at all the variation just within the Hoya genus. Maybe someone will be along who has had some hands on experience rather than just an academic hunch. Super curious!

Oh wow! The subfamily, shared by both, has something like 2,900 species between 348 genera, mostly shrubs and forbs, but some trees too. Thanks Lauticada, send a botany nerd down a taxonomy rabbit hole... Wheeee!

Plumerias are also in the Apocynaceae family and I've never seen a monarchbutterfly around my plumies, or in any of my plumie friends' gardens. It'd be nice though. :)

Well, maybe not so nice. The caterpillars eat the milkweed. ;)

You're right about that. Iw as actually thinking at first that we're lucky we don't get lots and lots of butterflies in our garden because we'd have to fight the caterpillars. BUT, it'd still be nice to see some monarchs around.

Interesting.....

That's because all the butterflies laid their eggs in my kale and radishes. Well, at least when the greens disappeared off the radishes, the ants could no longer farm aphids there.

I planted some milkweed in my yard, but the lawn cutter guy cut it down and I don't know if it'll come back. It may not have been established enough when I left it alone out there in this heat.

now, if my neighbors would let their native weeds grow, the caterpillars wouldn't want my crops! The butterflies actually prefer the native weeds!

some time little caterpillars (that come down on silk) have just about killed my 10 (maybe an exaggeration, they were supposed to be 12 feet tall) feet tall sunflowers. They look so sad, but they got their seeds made, so I'm happy. Hopefully I'll have a whole thicket of them on that side of the yard to help protect us from the poison overspray from our neighbor's yard 4-6 times a year!

i think that's why my Arkansas traveler isn't doing.....anything. It's the only one I put out in front of my house and the only one that's exposed to the sprays and the areas where they are sprayed.

i wish I could sue her to stop polluting my land and air.the worst part is, her grandson has terrible allergies, indoor, outdoor, foods. These have been linked to exposure to garden herbicides and insecticides. Especially the hormone regulators that prevent seeds from germinating. That's also what causes tomato plants to go all curled up and useless on you.

But every year, more and more spray. I can always tell when she's done it because of the VERY strong smell. It lasts for days. And it's like since I got chickens, she's been asking them to put extra chemicals and additional amounts of what she was already getting.

Shes probably poisoning my chickens and anyone who eats their eggs. Thank you, Mary.

Yuck, and doing it so often ensures she will have to keep dousing more and more, then switch to something stronger. Ugghh. I wish there was something that could be done for misuse of those things. Last year, my crazy neighbor lady kept putting something or another over the fence on my veggies. (by crazy I mean that she tells me people hide in her AC ducts crazy) Finally got her to stop but it took some doing.

Are the caterpillars in your other plants monarchs? I get a lot of cabbage moths in mine, white with a black spot. I hate those. Diatamaceous earth helps, needs to be applied often and doesn't do well once it has gotten wet but keeps my plants alive.

There were two types. Hornworms which I kind of welcome if I can get them off the plants before too much damage is done. Great feed for the chickens and pet tarantulas. I love free, organic pet treats. Well, maybe not all the way free but I don't mind feeding another animal that's just trying to survive.....especially if I then get to watch them get gobbles up in a frenzy of fangs or feathers!

The other ones were small black and white and yellow. I think they look like the kind your not supposed to eat, I don't know if the chooks and T's ate them or not.

OMG laticauda, is that even legal?!? It shouldn't be! Have you ever checked with the city, the dept. of health, somebody?

This is OK (as in Oklahoma). People don't care about the environment! "What's an environment?" they say. "But these weeds and bugs bother me so I'm just going to kill them all!!!!"

I wonder if one ever has to answer for all those tiny deaths...
If we'd leave the weeds and bugs alone, they wouldn't bother us and get out of control/balance. You may just be surprised at how long this Earth got along JUST fine without us trying to alter things to suit our own desires. But what do I know. I'm just some internet name.

I am thankful everyday that I don't have neighbors. It takes me a good 20-30 minutes to get to town from my house. And with 69 acres there isn't anyone close to me. My sanity and indoor/outdoor, food, insecticide, pesticide, animal allergy body thanks me for it. I go to town about once a week and that's more than enough for me. Other people plus all the chemicals in the stores drives my allergies crazy. You can't even walk into a greenhouse anymore without picking up on all the chemicals they use daily. I couldn't live next to someone that does things like that to their yard on top of the fact that it probably affects the grandson with all his allergies. Poor baby, I feel for him. If I lived next to someone like that I would have blown a gasket by now.

I agree with you laticauda, I think the earth would be a lot better off without the chemicals. But, I'm just like you. Just another internet name.

It's not so much that it's chemicals (practically freaking everything is a chemical, really) so much as it is the need to destroy something just because it has displeased you in some way. It goes all over, but a few biggies brought to mind are wolves, bears, bison, rhinoceroses, and oh my Goodness, SHARKS, SNAKES, and SPIDERS!

Sorry about that. *clears throat*

I really want to ask her to stop killing my spiders. They don't know that it's safe here but not there. They go wherever they want (native spiders).

I agree with you but all those chemicals are really hurting everybody not just the critters. Oh, I love spiders too! One critter I am not allergic to. I let them stay in my house so they can eat other bugs for me. The more venomous spiders I try to release back outside so nobody in my house gets bitten.

Laticauda, I knew I liked you for a reason. ;-) I get that organic doesn't always work, but the biggest problems there (including monoculture and large scale farming)is OVERUSE. Because yay,resistant pests for everyone! Sorry if I start a fire with the organic comment, its a great idea and often very valid and applicable, though still uses chemicals, has its own host of drawbacks, and sometimes we just really need to crack down on something. Your lawn is not generally one of those somethings. Unless you have some crazy noxious invasive that will cause more harm than it will to get rid of it... Find a better solution.

And weeds are green all year long! But if she mowed right, the weeds would be shaded out and it would take care of itself naturally.

I think I'm going to plant wheat grass again this fall. Nothing quite like seeing beautiful bright green grass poking up through the snow!

I have to plant all my edible weeds up on my roof.

they don't like it up there though. It's hot.

For what it’s worth, someone mentioned that they never saw monarchs on plumeria despite it being a member of the Apocynaceae family, and I’m here to say that I’ve actually seen monarchs lay eggs on my plumeria. The caterpillars emerged and munched a bit on the leaves, although I don't think it's preferred by monarchs. But evidently it is close enough for the adult monarch to lay eggs on it!