August 17, 2012

It is the season for monarchs. I wish I could capture a photo like this of the monarch butterflies that enliven my garden these days. They prefer the milkweed plants (asclepias) pictured above and below. I’ve allowed the red and yellow varieties to self-sow around my garden. There’s a robust stand just outside my kitchen patio doors so the monarchs flutter by frequently.

Last Sunday, as I moved about the house, I glanced out the windows in the rooms on the first floor. Almost every time, my eye caught a monarch flitting about or sampling the milkweed and other favored perennials and shrubs. What a delight.

Last night after work I gathered a large handful of seeds from opening pods and went to the front yard where the brisk ocean breezes blow. In Miss Rumphius fashion, I cast them all to the wind and watched the air-born seeds drift high and up the street. Who knows where they’ll land? In whose garden will milkweed grow and monarchs come?

Read more about monarchs and the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary where I visited earlier this year in my post Monarchs Near Monterey.

Photo credits: First and last photos, Wikimedia Commons