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New Roses, Compost and Grasshoppers Epazote, Gotu Kola and St. John's Wort Central Texas Fall Planting Guide Gardening for Birds and Butterflies How to grow Apples in Central Texas Problems growing Tomatoes in hot weather Herbs and Late Spring Gardening Tips
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Monarch Butterflies
The Monarch butterfly migration route is another one that goes over Central Texsas. After several years of decline in the Monarch population, anyone who lives around in Central Texas or the central flyway has probably seen their share of the orange butterfly with black patterns on its wings. If you planted lots of butterfly friendly plants that bloom in the fall such as asclepias, you should be rewarded with lots of butterfly sightings. The butterfly migration involves millions of monarchs from Canada, whose migration pattern is shaped like a cone as it progresses over Texas. They are on their way to the volcanic mountains of central Mexico. It wasn't until 1975 that the wintering grounds were discovered as they were kept a secret by Mexican villagers for centuries. Once they are at the wintering site, they cluster by the millions in trees that grow under the right conditions for the monarchs. This includes foggy, damp and cool weather that is just above freezing. The cooler weather is important because it makes their body processes or metabolism slow down so they don't have to look for nutrition during the winter. The sites are 10,000 feet above sea level and involve a very small area that stays close to freezing. The foggy conditions provide the moisture the butterflies need during the winter. The last two weeks of March bring the Monarchs back to east Central Texas as the female butterflies look for one of the 14 varieties of native Texas milkweed (asclepias) on which to lay eggs. A variety of native milkweed is blooming at some time all summer. That is why preserving natural space is so important. After laying their eggs, the monarchs that over wintered in Mexico soon die. The orange and black caterpillars grow rapidly, metamorphose, and lay eggs to begin the cycle again. The monarchs born in the spring and summer only live a short while, three to five weeks, while the monarchs born in the fall live the 9 months it takes to migrate to Mexico and back. Since each female lays hundreds of eggs, the southern U.S. is repopulated every year with lots of the beautiful monarchs.
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I was looking at the full stock ponds around the area last week and was surprised to see a family of Whooping Cranes. It was quiet a treat to see these majestic birds because they are rare. The migration route brings them directly over the county where I live as they fly toward their wintering grounds in Aransas Pass, Texas, but because there are only 500 in existence, seeing them standing around my neighbor's stock pond was a great experience.
