I have my own story on monarch which we love to see around, have milkweed plants and seeds, if anyone wants to trade, let me know, thanks...and thank you Martha. Bea

I spend most of my time on the butterfly forum, and most areas have had a significant lack of butterflies this year. But, things are really picking up just this week in many regions. Last summer was a terrible drought, and this spring was cool and wet. So, things were off to a slow start. But, it's getting better. Just keep growing the native plants and heavy nectar annuals, etc., and you'll be rewarded with visits eventually. Thanks for taking the time to respond to the post and spread the word to gardening folk and others. Martha

THANK YOU all for your kind words. It makes me want to cry. Truly. I've shared what you've said with my Kindergartners. They are all touched as well. When I told them on Monday morning that we didn't win (a number of them had tuned in Sunday evening to watch to see if we did win) there was this big, "OH!" then someone piped up, "It's okay, we had fun anyway." I gave a little talk about how we DID win because we made such an impact on the Monarch butterflies and how people all across the United States are now more aware of what is going on with the West Coast Monarchs and are planting Milkweed in their own gardens for ALL Monarchs. A little girl, who had watched the Wild Kingdom show said, "The class that won only got a little bit of land with the money they made. We are helping butterflies in a BIGGER land." I said, "That's right! We are making a difference ALL across the United States (and I pointed to the U.S. map) and the kids started to cheer wildly. Point made. I mentioned that we still had time before school ended so we should continue our seed packets. This was met with an overwhelming cheer. Here we are, on Tuesday, and we've made over 50 more seed packets. I ran out of materials and had at least five kids ask, "Can I stuff the envelopes today?" I need to get on the ball! Thank goodness I am letting my Milkweed go to seed...now, off to the garden to feed the gazillions of cat-pits (which, BTW, I've taken a number to school for the children to handle as they LOVE to hold the caterpillars... :) Your support has been TREMENDOUS. Thank you. BTW, if you get a chance, I'd appreciate it if you would check out the latest updates to our blog. I am trying to make it one that is helpful to those who are just getting 'initiated' into Monarchs. I am taking comments and critiques to heart and putting criticisms to 'work' Here is a link that might be useful: tdogmom's blog

Most plants in my gardens are either attractive to butterflies or hummingbirds, or both (nectar wise) and I've added two "butterfly weed" (the "a" word plants that I can't pronouce or spell, lol). We've had a lot of work over the past year bringing the gardens back from weeds or non-existance, but this year we've been rewarded...with a LOT of bees (and I do mean this in a positive way, I'm always happy to see the honeybees)! One morning my "sundrops" were absolutely full of them-there was at least one bee per flower! And a hummer or two, and some cabbage whites. I have begun to see some painted ladies (I think) and hopefully the monarchs will start to arrive soon. I plan yet another bed of just wildflower seed, and one more TBD (seed mix is so temptingly easy and cheap compared to buying individual plants). I think it was two or three years ago when we saw a bunch of monarchs taking shelter in some trees during the migration-it was phenominal. We live on the shore of Lake Ontario, so we're right in a major pathway for them...