I have been living in
Burlington, CT, for almost 35 years. That's 35 years without seeing a monarch caterpillar. Even after I started planting milkweed in
my "lawn" about 10 years ago. But this year I have 2
large cats munching away, putting on weight, and if I am lucky becoming the
next generation of butterflies!
There are many reasons
why the monarchs have been scarce.
1. Too many farms have been
abandoned and grown up to forests.
2. Too many of the old
fields have been converted to cookie-cutter housing developments.
3. Most of the plants that
native butterflies feed on are considered “weeds” by the companies that
sell monocultured grass carpets and have chemicals that can kill everything
that is not grass.
4. Even my neighbors who
have joined the trend of planting butterfly gardens have been treating their
property with insecticides. They bring
in the butterflies and then poison them.
Still, there are two fat
cats in my yard, and maybe they will survive the trip to Mexico, overwinter
there, and return in the spring.
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