Day 3, south of San Francisco

An eventful but very satisfying day.

We had hoped to visit an overwintering site – but how to do it? One was several hours’ drive south of San Francisco – and not too far away a specialist in growing Asclepias, the host plants for Monarchs. It seemed like a good opportunity, but the logistics of hiring a car and navigating out of the city…

To the rescue came Rita, a fellow 5W member. 5W is short for ‘Women Welcome Women WorldWide’, a networking group established for women who travel alone and are keen to host or be hosted by women who enjoy meeting other cultures and sharing travel experiences. Rita lived south of the city and when I had phoned her to ask the logistics of visiting Natural Bridges and Pete Michel, the butterfly gardener, she got into action. Emails flew between her and me, and we were welcome to catch the train south to near where she lived, and she would drive us over the hills to Natural Bridges, and later into the mountains to visit Pete.

In the end it was a party of five women who met up at the Lawrence Railway Station and piled into her Dodge truck. We stocked up on chocolate and coffees, we found a loo, and then we were on our way to Natural Bridges.

We were amazed at the colourful oleanders and Crepe Myrtles, flowering at their peak, but the rest of the countryside was burnt brown, with remnants of the bushfires evident alongside the freeway.


Natural Bridges is world-renowned for its yearly migration of monarch butterflies – you can see thousands during the butterflies’ peak season (mid-October to late January).

Chris, one of the rangers and who is in charge of the visitor programme was working with some preschoolers on educating them regarding weeds and planting seeds to provide more habitat, but soon welcomed us and showed us around, talked about the Monarch’s habitat and how they measured the size of the colony each year. We walked down to the currently empty Eucalyptus trees, awaiting the Monarchs’ return. Underneath the boardwalk was a mix of blackberry and poison oak, a sprawling weed which was a disaster to touch, highly toxic causing itches and bad rashes. However, it offered habitat for various critters so was left as ground cover.

Chris explained how Eucalyptus was a very unpopular plant as it had become a weed species – but at the reserve they respected it as it was more successful as a shelter belt than the Monterey pine, which was suffering from a virus and not faring too well.

We spent a fascinating few hours at the reserve, very much in admiration of their docent scheme and visitor facilities. It was great to be able to exchange information and learn different things about their Monarchs.

The scarcity of birds and insects surprised me – at home the outdoors would be buzzing with bees and bumble-bees, and garden birds… but suddenly I spotted a hummingbird outside the window nectaring on a bush! What a thrill – my first hummingbird.

And then it was off to Aromas, on the other side of the mountains, 40 kilometres south-east, and the property of Pete and Sandi Michel, who had established a nursery ten years ago to help the Monarch butterfly. Their 1.4ha (3.5 acres) site has been developed with a view to protecting the environment.

Pete told us that there are about 1,200 species of Asclepias in the world, and it is in fact one of the oldest plants, as such having a primitive reproductive system – pollinia rather than pollen. They are intent on encouraging the twelve species native to California, but the most prolific one they had available was OUR Swan plant, that and its larger form. (Gomphocarpus fruticosus, and G. physocarpus).

Once again, it seemed strange that here, in the height of the summer, there were no caterpillars to be seen, and throughout the whole day we saw three butterflies, a Cabbage White in someone’s garden as we drove by, and here in the butterfly garden, a lone Monarch came and went, and a Painted Lady briefly passed by. But it was windy, perhaps the reason.

We left them at 7pm, after an incredibly friendly and interesting discussion and tour of the garden. We learned lots, and we hope they did from us too.

We were a tired threesome who arrived back in San Francisco on the Cal-train about 9.30pm; and Kathryn had still to pack as she left for Philadelphia early the next morning.

www.nps.govt/nabr/

www.butterflyplants.com

One Response to “Day 3, south of San Francisco”

  1. Juana Mueller Says:

    Hi Jacqui, I just wrote you an email. Hope you get it. I’m writing this on Thurs., Aug 21, at 3:45 pm. Enjoyed your log or is it “blog” of “migration” exploits. I hope we can make a connection here in Huntington Beach when you come to L.A. We have Monarchs galore at the moment. Mating, egg laying, many caterpillars, many chrysalises, and many emerging Monarchs. Such a joy! Hope to hear from you. Would love to plan a visit and exchange lots of info. Happy Migration. Juana Mueller.

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