Date: 07/28/2023

Noon to 13:00, counted: 292 milkweed stems, mostly common (more than 98 percent Asclepias syriaca, less than 2 percent Asclepias incarnata) within an area of about two acres.

A majority of the plants are in poor shape due to a three-week drought late-May into early-June, about ten percent of emergent stems died. Of the remainder: currently over fifty percent of the plants are weak dry greenish-brown, about twenty percent have flower blooms, about twenty percent have spent blooms and failed to produce fruits, and about five percent have small to medium-sized fruits developing. A few patches in shadier/more protected areas appear to be doing the best, and get a lot of adult monarch's attention.

I had watered about thirty plants in full sun a few times during the drought. Two have small developing fruits, two still have blooms.

[Observed ten monarch adults flying while counting stems.]

[Note to Journey North: the Milkweed Sighted form has no field to enter the count.]

Gulliver, MI

Latitude: 46.1 Longitude: -86.1

Observed by: James
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