The gardens have been a monarch paradise these last few weeks. The garden has every stage of life from eggs to butterflies.

For the Sunshine State, they are seasonal in Northern Florida with low numbers during the spring before exploding by the millions during the late summer and fall. In central and southern Florida, the monarch butterflies breed all year.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, the monarchs are broken down into eastern and western populations divided by the Rocky Mountains. It states that the eastern population is the largest. This population migrates northward. In the spring they leave Mexico and migrate north into Texas and the Southern Plains, through the Northern Plains, Midwest and into the Great Lakes area. And by late summer the monarchs expand into Canada, eastward from its central migratory corridor of the United States through the northeast and southeast states.

The National Wildlife Federation states that the late summer, last generation of monarchs that emerges will delay sexual maturity for migration. This migratory generation can live up to eight months, compared to the typical few weeks.

It’s fascinating to learn about the monarch’s incredible migratory patterns. In Southwest Florida we are blessed with these beauties visiting the garden daily during the winter months as the weather never dips to unbearable temperatures.

Today, similar to many others, the nectar plant of choice is the red penta. We also had a female monarch emerge in the butterfly house, the one that is on the same milkweed plant as the monarch caterpillar.