Milkweed or monarch observation details

Comments

This is an observation of the 4 asclepias incarnata specimens in my front garden (south facing) and side garden (east facing). I wanted to report this info because this is way more caterpillars at any one time than I found last year on the same 4 specimens. Also of note is that ~7 of them (I'm reporting this after the fact so not positive the exact number, but at least half) were on a single specimen in my front garden. This specimen was swarmed with caterpillars all season, whereas the 2 specimens in my side garden were hardly touched. The milkweeds were purchased a few years ago from two different vendors; two were purchased from a nursery in Michigan, and the other two from a local nursery that sells local ecotypes grown from collected seeds. I wonder if this could have any bearing on the discrepancy, or if it's more about the location within the garden. I'm going to plant a seedling of the favorite specimen in another part of the garden to see if it also gets more attention from the monarchs.

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