And it was the second one I’ve seen in my flowering plants in the past week.
I was surprised as I would have thought the Monarchs would have headed west before they get to the South Carolina coast.
But as it turns out that there is a very, very interesting thing going on with the Monarchs in South Carolina: some here on the coast stay here all year, which is a conclusion made after years of study. Here is a quote from the article linked below from the South Carolina Division of Natural Resources:
“The recently published research indicates that monarch butterflies live year-round in South Carolina, relying on swamps in spring, summer and fall and sea islands in the winter. While these monarchs rely heavily on aquatic milkweed (Asclepias perennis) as a host plant for their eggs and caterpillars, they were also found to use swallow-wort (Pattalias palustre) – a viney relative of milkweed that grows near salt marshes and was previously unrecognized as an important host plant for monarchs.
“This research adds another layer of nuance to the fascinating story of the monarch butterfly,” said SCDNR associate marine scientist and first author Dr. Michael Kendrick.”
https://www.dnr.sc.gov/news/2023/Jul/jul11-butterflies.php
The monarchs upstate (to the north and west) in South Carolina are migrating likely to Mexico. Here’s an article from Clemson University:
And, here’s a link to information about Monarch migration in the United States:
https://monarchwatch.org/migration/
Who knew?
But, life happens…
Which is one of the marvels of Mother Earth.
Louisa Enright's Blog 
Interesting note in the monarch butterflies. We were in California one winter and saw zillions on the eucalyptus trees near Santa Barbara. It was amazing! In Iowa they like milk weeds….but the milk weed is not a favorite of the farmer! They like pink cone flowers too! And sedums! Enjoy your blog!
Thanks for reading my blog and for commenting. Milkweed is very aggressive. Yes. I planted it in Maine and it quickly went to where IT wanted to go in my garden. BUT, I saw many Monarch chrysalis’s on those plants and watched many hatch into the butterflies they contained. So fun. Milkweed is everywhere in rural Maine. What is especially interesting to me about these coastal/island Monarchs who stay here year round is that they have found nourishing species of plants to use in lieu of milkweed–plants that are close relatives to milkweed. Monarchs need the milkweed for breeding as their larvae only eat milkweed. But adults feed on the flower nectar of other plants. They like my red roses here in SC.
I have a question about the monarch and the milkweed. Do they need the seed part of the milkweed to breed or can you leave the plant and pull off the seed? My children and I spent many many hours walking the fields spraying milkweed with roundup. Yup, that nasty stuff! I’m not sure if the milkweed hasn’t become resistant to the spray. We are farmers as you probably guess, just small farmers in todays world. We raise corn and soybeans and have a bunch of kitties for mousers. There are a lot of weeds that have become resistant to roundup, so then the chemist developers something stronger.. blah
Have a good day!