If you plant it, they will come- Monarchs

Eli releasing butterflies

Last spring, we planted Swamp Milkweed. Then, in the fall, I saw 1 monarch butterfly. Only one. Much to my surprise a few weeks later, I discovered MONARCH CATERPILLARS!!!! I did a quick google search on how to raise them, got our butterfly habitat ready and got busy! We released 8 butterflies.

One of my favorite pictures!! You can see how this hungry little caterpillar has munched on the milkweed leaf.

Chrysalis in the background, drying monarch, then in the foreground, one that is about to emerge

There are many sites with good information about raising monarchs. Here is one I used. The basics are to be sure to clean their habitat out daily, have water for them (I soaked a sponge in sugar water), and give them fresh milkweed leaves daily. Once they go into their chrysalis, set them somewhere they won't be bothered (i.e. curious kids or cats) and leave them. Once they started to emerge, I did make sure they had fresh water on the sponge. We released them all at once, about 24 hours after the last one emerged, making sure the wings were dry.