Finally, a monarch! And not just one caterpillar, but two, with others, I hope, hidden among the late-season foliage.
I’ve been checking the milkweed regularly since early summer and changed that practice to daily after seeing a few monarch butterflies visiting the garden over the last two weeks. Disappointment was the result until August 18, when I spotted a large larval specimen chewing its way down a leaf, followed about an hour later with sighting of a miniature version.
The milkweed on which the eggs were laid is butterfly weed, or Asclepias tuberosa, noted for eye-catching orange blossoms and dark green narrow leaves. My guess, based on information provided by the University of Maryland Extension and Monarch Watch, is that the egg-laying took place around August 4 and August 14, with each egg laid by a different female. If circumstances allow, the larger caterpillar will form a chrysalis in the next few days and metamorphose from larva to butterfly around September 1. The smaller caterpillar will follow about ten days later.
The egg-laying butterflies most likely were part of the summer generation, which lives for up to five weeks, but the two caterpillars, or larvae, may be members of the year’s final generation. After transforming into butterflies, they’ll be on their way to Mexico to overwinter, a distinctive function of that generation. Next spring, they’ll migrate north, to mate and continue the reproductive cycle.
A lot must go right for a single monarch to be created. With luck, the two caterpillars on the butterfly weed will soon be drying their wings and flying off to join millions of other monarchs journeying south.
Notes
- Behnke, Doris. “Metamorphosis: The Life Stages of a Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed in North East, Maryland (FS-1144).” University of Maryland Extension, University of Maryland. February 2021. Updated October 23, 2024. Accessed August 22, 2025. https://extension.umd.edu/resource/metamorphosis-life-stages-monarch-butterfly-milkweed-north-east-maryland-fs-1144/
- Monarch Watch. Accessed August 22, 2025. https://www.monarchwatch.org/
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