In December 2021 I spotted some rather familiar looking caterpillars on a Crown Flower plant that was growing at the corner on the end of our street. Crown Flower, or Calotropis Gigantea, is a regional variant of Milkweed and, like it’s North American cousin, is popular among a certain regal species of butterfly. Crown Flower is native to Southeast Asia but I haven’t been able to find out much about the migratory patterns of Monarch butterflies, or Danaus Plexippus, in East Asia. I read that some winter in Taiwan and, I guess, some winter here in Cambodia? Monarch butterflies are native to North America but were documented in Polynesia as long ago as 1873.

Some time before we left for home leave in 2022, I transplanted some Crown Flower from the street to a planter at our house in hopes of convincing the Monarch butterflies to hang out with us. I had also read that Crown Flower has anti-mosquito properties – not entirely surprising given milkweed’s toxicity – which immediately added some impetus to my little project. The mosquitos have been much worse the last couple of years, compared to when we first arrived, not sure why but we do all that we can to control them. I’ve been doing what composting I can while living in Phnom Penh so I had some of my own soil ready to contribute to the project.

I’m happy to report that, about nine months after transplanting, three Monarch butterflies started hanging out at our house. They’ve been around for over three months now. I’m not sure what their long term plans are but it’s been nice to have them around. Especially when we’ve hosted gatherings and our guests have reacted to the butterflies hovering around.

The Crown Flower is positioned in the sunniest part of our courtyard, just below the coconut tree, and has grown decently but it clearly yearns for more sunlight. It’s reaching out to get all of the sun it can.

Since the Crown Flower has been a success, I’m planning to transplant a second and put it on one of our balconies where it will get significantly more light than in the courtyard. The Monarch butterflies fly all the way up to the top floor – they seem to like the sap that leeks from the mango stems – and we could also use more anti-mosquito protection. We tried planting Mint and Lavender back in 2021, which mosquitos apparently dislike as well, but those didn’t take.

So, if you would like more butterflies hanging around your house and you’d some botanical anti-mosquito protection I’d recommend your region’s native variant of Milkweed.