Thank you, Mrs. Monarch.

Thank you for laying your eggs on our newly planted narrowleaf milkweed.

We planted the narrowleafed milkweed last spring, hoping we could coax you to come. We laid out a floral welcome mat for you with some of your favorite (adult) foods: a butterfly bush, Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia), and Lantana.

Then we watched.  And waited. And watched. And waited. 

We saw you nectaring the butterfly bush, the Tithonia and Lantana. We saw Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) chasing you. We saw territorial male sunflower bees (Melissodes aegilis) dive-bombing you. We saw female Valley carpenter bees trying to jerk you around.

You ignored our narrowleafed milkweed.  Not a good-enough host plant? Too many oleander aphids for you? Too many lady beetles eating the aphids?

We went from informal to formal. Please, Mrs. Danaus plexippus, lay your eggs on the Asclepias fascicularis. Please. Do. So. Now.

This week we saw your evidence: You did it! You gave us the most beautiful caterpillars we've ever seen. 

So, thank you, Mrs. Monarch.

And you, too, Mr. Monarch.

Please come again.