Butterfly Lady

Monarch butterflies are known for their incredible, long-distance migration from as far north as Canada to their wintering grounds in Central Mexico. But did you know that not all monarchs over-winter in Mexico?

Monarchs living west of the Rocky Mountain range in North America overwinter in California along the Pacific coast near Santa Cruz and San Diego. Here microclimatic conditions are very similar to that in central Mexico. Monarchs roost in eucalyptus, Monterey pines, and Monterey cypresses in California.

Every Thanksgiving and New Years the Xerces Society along with hundreds of volunteers count the number of monarch butterflies at overwintering sites in the West.

The South Carolina coast is also home to a winter population of monarch butterflies, according to a recently published study published by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). The research indicates that the insects live year-round in South Carolina, relying on swamps in the spring, summer, and fall and sea islands in the winter. 

And then there is Florida! Because of the warm climate and continuous availability of host plants, much of Florida’s monarch population stays in the state year-round and breeds continuously throughout the year. Year-round residents are more common in southern Florida, as cold winter temperatures in northern Florida can kill monarchs at any life stage.

In addition to resident populations, the state also hosts migratory monarchs from northeastern North America, but there are competing hypotheses regarding how these migrants travel to, from, or through Florida.

When I lived in Central Florida I observed that monarch populations increased in late November. According to Dr. Karen Oberhauser, Florida is a terminal destination for migrating monarchs from the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. These monarchs fly into Florida but don’t disperse out, making the Florida population a “sink population.”

Wherever monarchs are this winter, we can help these iconic butterflies by creating habitat for them in our own back yards. 

Most of us are very familiar with the monarch migration this time of year. But did you know that monarchs are not the only butterflies that migrate? In fact, there is a butterfly that migrates even farther distances than the monarch.

The Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), boasts the world’s farthest known butterfly migratory route, undertaking a phenomenal 9,000-mile round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle.

As one of the most cosmopolitan insect species in the world, the Painted Lady is found in all continents except Antarctica and Australia. Some of the reasons for its widespread distribution include a wide variety of plants it feeds and lays eggs on, the ability to migrate to avoid winter, and continuously reproducing.

Painted Lady larvae feed on an incredibly wide variety of host plants from many different families including thistles (Cirsium spp.), borage (Borago officinalis), hollyhock (Alcea rosea), mallow (Malva spp.), sunflower (Helianthus spp.), Plantain (Plantago spp.), and a few legumes including soybeans.

The Painted Lady is also known for its migratory behavior here in the United States. The butterflies will set off from their wintering grounds in the Mojave and Colorado deserts of southeastern California as winter gives way to spring. They travel roughly the same path every year, flying northwest to Sacramento in route to Oregon, Washington and beyond. (They’ve been spotted as far north as Alaska.) These migrations appear to be partially initiated by heavy winter rains in the desert where rainfall controls the growth of larval food plants.

In March 2019, after heavy rain produced an abundance of vegetation in the deserts, Southern California saw these butterflies migrating by the millions across the state.

Research on the Painted Ladies in North America is limited, but scientists believe they migrate to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico in the fall. They arrive in the desert in late fall and the cycle begins again.

One of the most interesting Painted Lady butterfly facts is that it can reach a speed of nearly 30 miles per hour, allowing it to travel up to 100 miles per day during its migration.

Some confuse these butterflies with the Monarch (Danaus plexippus). While their color scheme may be similar to Monarch butterflies, Painted Ladies have eyespots on the underside their wings in addition to brown coloring on both sides. Painted Ladies lack the vein pattern that Monarchs are best known for. Painted Ladies are also smaller than Monarchs, with a wingspan measuring less than 3 inches.

The Painted Lady breeds throughout the year. The female lays eggs during its migration, contributing to its global distribution. The butterfly undergoes metamorphosis as part of its life cycle that ranges from 1 month in subtropical areas to 2 months in the temperature zones.

Eggs are laid singly on plant leaves and develop over the course of 5 days, before the caterpillar hatches. Five larval stages, also known as instars, span over 25 days where the caterpillar feeds continuously and grows extensively, followed by a pupation stage when metamorphosis takes place. The adult butterfly emerges from the pupa after a week and finds a mate before settling on a leaf to lay eggs and start the cycle again.

Painted Ladies are one of the easiest butterflies to raise because not only will the young larvae feed on so many different host plants, they will also feed on a specially formulated artificial diet.  This artificial diet makes it possible for the larvae to be sold in butterfly rearing kits and are often raised and studied in classrooms by elementary students.

 

According to Monarch Watch, Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) is a major fall-blooming nectar source for monarchs. By fall it’s usually at least three feet high and has dense clusters of snow-white flowers. Blooming typically coincides with peak migration.

The blossoms are also attractive to many other species of butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. It is the host plant for the Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia) and the Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) butterflies.

Native to the Southeastern United States and Texas, Frostweed is perennial throughout USDA zones 6-9. Reaching an average height and spread of about 3 feet, this plant is ideal for cottage gardens, background plantings in shady garden borders, or naturalized in wooded areas. 

The name “Frostweed” is a reference to the plant’s tendency to excrete water from its stems in freezing weather, thus enhancing the winter landscape with the creation of interesting ice sculptures. Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) it is also known by other names including White Crownbeard, Indian Tobacco, Iceplant, Iceweed, Richweed, Squaw Weed, White Wingstem, and Virginia Crownbeard.

Growing tips: Frostweed prefers dappled shade where it can form sizable colonies, like at the edge of a woodland or just under a large tree. Plant your Frostweed in a naturalized area where it can get dry to moist soil. It will grow from 2’-6’ tall with little to no maintenance, irrigation or pest control. If you plant it in a dryer and sunnier space you will tend to get smaller and more compact bushes with more flowers. You can also promote more fall blooms by cutting back the plant in mid-summer.

If you grow milkweed, you will most likely have aphids. I constantly get asked, “How do I get rid of the aphids on my milkweed?”

Aphids are a non-native insect and they can multiply very quickly. However, they are not a direct threat to monarch caterpillars because they feed on the milkweed plant only. They can indirectly affect caterpillar health by depleting nutrients in their only host plant. They tend to be problematic when the plant is very small or weak. Aphids suck sap from the plant tissues, and if populations are high, can stress plants and kill small or young plants.

Heavily infested milkweed can be stunted or deformed, and black sooty mold grows on the large amounts of sticky honeydew produced by the aphids. When aphids or other sap sucking insects suck sap from a plant, the plant is weakened and there is a risk of the insect infecting the plant with disease. It sometimes spreads plant viruses from one plant to another.

I do not recommend using insecticides to control aphids because it will kill much more than the aphids and most likely your monarch larvae as well. Even if the insecticide is labeled organic, that doesn’t mean it’s safe for caterpillars. Using systemic insecticides to get rid of aphids can be much more harmful to the monarch caterpillars than the aphids themselves. Some people recommend using neem oil but the oil tends to stay on the leaf. Neem oil can also be systemic. One label states that “neem oil does not harm beneficial insects, only sucking and chewing insects”. Caterpillars are chewing insects.

Here are some recommended strategies to help control the aphids population on milkweed:

• If there is enough milkweed for caterpillars, cut off any part of the plant that is infected with aphids and dispose of the stems in a sealed bag.
• Although time-consuming, the safest way to remove aphids is manually by squishing them between your fingers (you can use gloves to avoid staining your fingers) and then using a hose to dislodge them from the plant. I use this method with young milkweed plants. It is best to catch the aphids before they become an aphid army, so even if there are just a few on the plant, remove immediately.
• The easiest way to control aphids is to use the hose to blast them off every couple of days. You won’t completely get rid of them, but it helps. The negative side is that it does not remove all the aphids or kill the aphids. Some of the aphids may find their way back to the plant. For this method to work you need to do this frequently.

• ​If you have a severe infestation of aphids on the milkweed you can use a soapy water solution.  The soap solution should be sprayed either in the early morning or late evening. In bright sunlight, soap acts as a magnifying glass and the light burns the leaves, sometimes causing the plant to drop all leaves.

Here is the recipe recommended by Monarch Watch: mix 1 gallon of water with 1-ounce of Blue Dawn dish soap, 1-ounce isopropyl alcohol, and 1-ounce white vinegar and pour into a spray bottle. Saturate the plant with the soap solution and allow the plant to sit for 10-15 minutes, then wash off with a hose. Both the tops and bottoms of the leaves should be sprayed and rinsed. Be sure you remove any caterpillars or eggs before applying!

• Beneficial insects are great for controlling aphids because they rarely harm monarch eggs, caterpillars, or adults and once introduced, they take no effort on your part! There are many species of beneficial insects. It is important to be able to identify these insects so you know which ones are on your side. Ladybugs, hover flies, lacewings, parasitoid wasps, and a few more types of beneficial insects devour aphids.

  

After battling aphids for years, I have come to peace with these little yellow critters. For the most part, I just leave them alone (with the exception of young seedlings and plants) and to my surprise Mother Nature comes to the rescue!

A recently released study suggests that monarchs are more likely to survive on milkweed shared with non-predatory insects than on a “clean” plant. They believe this is because the plant has more food options for a predator, which lessens the chance that they go after the monarch. So maybe the best strategy is to leave those little orange milkweed aphids alone.

 

My grandchildren recently introduced me to this most delightful book by Ross Burach. The story is about how a caterpillar discovers that it will “metamorphosize” into a butterfly. Each page is delightfully written and illustrated and will entertain children of any age.

The Impatient Caterpillar is wondering why all the caterpillars are climbing up the tree. His friend tells him that they are going up to metamorphosize, but Impatient Caterpillar doesn’t know what that means. “Meta-WHAT-now?” he asks. His friend explains they are turning into butterflies. Impatient Caterpillar had no idea he could do that! He cannot wait to become a butterfly.

Hanging upside down at the top of the tree, Impatient Caterpillar wants to know what comes next. His friend explains that they now need to build a chrysalis, and, in the blink of an eye, he’s completely encased in his chrysalis. Impatient Caterpillar is incredulous. “WHAAAT? How did you DO that? Is it a spin? Or more of a twirl?” Impatient Caterpillar struggles to build his chrysalis, but once he is encased, he wonders what he must do next. His friend replies, “Just be patient and let nature take its course.”

Impatient Caterpillar is full of questions. Mainly, “Am I a butterfly yet?” All the other chrysalises tell them to be quiet because, after all, they are trying to metamorphosize. When Impatient Caterpillar learns that it takes two weeks to turn into a butterfly, he freaks out. “Can I get a comic book?” “What if I need the bathroom?” “Anyone want to play a game?“. His fellow caterpillars all tell him to be patient and let nature take its course, but the waiting is just so hard. Looking at the calendar, he realizes that it’s still only day one and decides that he is going to break free.

He bursts out of his chrysalis and is convinced that he is a butterfly. Unfortunately, he is now only a rather dilapidated and awkward-looking caterpillar. He jumps off of the branch to fly and splats to the ground. He decides to try to metamorphosize again.

Finally the Impatient Caterpillar seems to be getting the hang of it. He practices deep breathing and speaks positively to himself until on Day 7 he finally finds his inner chill.

At the end of the week…he emerges as a beautiful butterfly! He professes a new appreciation for patience. But…wait!…where is everybody going? His friend tells him they’re migrating. “Right. Right.,” this newly patient butterfly says. He takes off, ready for the long flight.

Just one question: “Are we there yet?”

Besides being funny, it can lead to learning more factual information about caterpillars and butterflies, other animals that undergo metamorphosis (like tadpoles to frogs), and/or talking about learning to be patient and coping techniques to help us be patient.