Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations More good news about Monarch Butterflies

Thank you. Did you mean "Miss Kim"?

I think the Donald Wyman lilac is a mix of Little Kim, and something else, not sure what:

https://heritagehillnurseryinc.com/spotlight/donald-wyman-lilac/

Ours usually flower about 2 weeks after standard lilacs.

BTW this multi-colored lilacs have never been multi-colored. Ours are simply a pale white.

Just wanted to add a note to this old thread.

I was out working on our property last Sunday (9/24/23). I paused on the excavator around 8 AM and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a Monarch fluttering past. I then looked up and could see at least seven more in my field of view. There were even a few at least 100' above ground level.

I would look up every time I took a break, and spotted Monarchs every single time! This continued until a little before noon.

We had a small weak cold front move down from Canada all of the way to Kansas at the same time. A nice little breeze from the north at 8-10 MPH is almost always the condition when I see abundant Monarchs in the flyway that includes central Kansas.

(Some years I observe very few Monarchs go through our flyway, even when their total population numbers are high. So I believe that weather patterns, milkweed distribution, etc. do have strong year-to-year influences.)

I am just very happy to report that several thousand Monarchs probably traversed our land this weekend!

I saw a couple this last weekend. But it pales compared to the 30-40 per day I could count in the early 70's just while riding the school bus.

Been years

I am pretty much 300 miles due north of your place.

The Monarchs I saw were headed straight for you!

Question for you, would like me to send the Monarchs down your way first, or send the rain first?

Hard decision. I’ve seldom seen monarchs but annual rain has been even more elusive.