Ok, I'll correct myself, the pic w/ all of them, is egg, 2nd, 3rd & 4th instar, right? I know the big guy was in 4th, I watched him shed his skin shortly after the pic was taken, and he's now pupated. Some of the others are in 5th instar as of today too!

That is bad news. The winds here today are horrible. There are very few new eggs, so I suspect the Monarchs have been blown on. Several people have contacted me about all my eggs and what is happening in this area. It is evident that this multiple egg laying is not a good sign, as it indicates the females are having trouble finding host plants. I've got to get out and check out some areas around here where I normally find the wild milkweed and report back to JN as to what I find and whether there are eggs in the wild. Meanwhile, over 60 of the little dudes have hatched. I am really watching carefully and removing the larvae as soon as they hatch, so no viable eggs will be eaten. I'll try my darndest to get as many of them to maturity as possible. Sandy

Beautiful photos Minrose. I don't remember if you've posted pics of your grow op yet, but I'd love to see some. Hope you have good weather and lots of fun at the festival - and see LOTS of Monarchs! I'm down to my last 7 cats eating. I am kinda sad to see it coming to an end too. But there will be lots of eclosures over the next couple weeks - with at least a dozen emerging today. :)

I've seen very few butterflies all year. Then to suddenly have ten or so, plus the cabbage moths which are always flitting about, was rather spectacular. :-) The Painted Ladies were still in the garden today. I'll bet Edna is right, there will soon be caterpillars. Flower, I'll be happy to collect some seeds, if you want to give Max a try. They are somewhat invasive in that they spread, but shovel pruning would take care of that. I started mine from a 4" potted plant. A seed self sowed and began a second stand. I took a hunk from the oldest plant and started a third stand. My three have grown in perfect rounds. They have been rather orderly in the way they spread. Lorna