March is here and hope is in the air in Minnesota. The last few days have been sunny and in the high 30s to low 40s. Beautiful! The snow (lots of it) is starting to melt.

My tropical milkweed seeds are more than ready to be planted in seed starting mixture….tomorrow’s task.

Check out my Tips and Questions page for some interesting facts, tips and questions from my readers. I am sure some of you can add some of your own comments and answers to these questions – please do so! I know that many of you have a lot of experience raising butterflies.

My goal is to keep you up-to-date on what is new at Glorious Butterfly and in the “world of butterflies”! Look for a new issue the first week of each month….

I am going to be out of town from March 26-April 12 so I cannot fill and mail seed orders during this period. Please plan accordingly if you would like to order seeds. Thank you!

ENJOY!

Karen

In This Issue:

Click on item to jump down to that section:

What's New? - Milkweed harmful to children?

Butterfly News Pacific Grove monarch numbers were down this year.

Everything Butterflies - Great butterfly book to check out!

Teacher’s Corner - School Gardens.

In the Butterfly Garden - Native plants for the butterfly garden.

What’s New

I want to challenge my readers to try and attract or raise something different besides Monarchs (which I am guessing is the most popular to raise) this summer. How about swallowtails??

Black swallowtail host plants are many – rue, parsley, dill, bronze fennel, Queen Anne’s Lace to name a few.

They are interesting to raise…..different from monarchs. For those of you who HAVE raised some different butterflies, please share your tips or stories.

Butterflies in the News

Here is a fun story about raising butterflies in New Zealand. I have had someone from New Zealand comment on my question page about feeding the caterpillars pumpkin (as mentioned in the article)!!

There were fewer monarch butterflies in Pacific Grove this year. This is one of the major locations for the Western butterfly migration.

Learn about the tiger swallowtail camouflage.

12,000 butterflies from around the world are showcased at the Ft. Worth Botanic Garden.

The monarchs in Mexico are preparing to migrate North. Here is the word from Journey North….

March is the month that the monarchs are most active. They abandon their tight, dense clusters and move down the mountains in search of water. Below the mountains, streams and other sources of open water are mobbed with thirsty butterflies. There is much cascading now, another sign of colony breakup. "There is hardly anything that dazzles more than the simultaneous falling of tens of thousands of butterflies from a roost—as if gravity suddenly pulled with extra force," says Calvert. "And everywhere, monarchs are mating."

Everything Butterflies

I highly recommend the book The Life Cycles of Butterflies which would be great for teachers in the classroom or for any butterfly enthusiasts. The photographs are amazing and it will inspire you to attract new butterflies!

Check out these butterfly cards and misc. butterfly items. Maybe you will even be inspired to create your own butterfly cards using photos you have taken!

Teacher’s Butterfly Corner

School gardens are becoming popular as a sort of “classroom” for kids, as it reported in this article. It might be a little more difficult to do a garden in the Northern states, but how about starting seeds in the classroom so the kids can bring home plants for the summer and maybe raise some butterflies.

In the Butterfly Garden

It’s time to start thinking about the butterfly garden. Add some new plants this summer and see if you can attract more butterflies and new types of butterflies.

If you want plants that are not “fussy” and don’t require a lot of care, check out native plants…..also, the butterflies love them!

Here is a great resource for native plants by state.

Do you have a hobby that you would like to turn into a business? That's exactly what I did with this website. I am using what I found to be the very best tool available! Check out these people’s stories to find out more.