It's normal for some female monarchs to develop eggs in the
winter along the Gulf coast, south Atlantic coast and California
coast even in locations where there is no milkweed. These
females desperately want to find milkweed to lay their eggs on.
Intentionally depriving them of milkweed (via cutting the
milkweed down to the ground) will cause them alot of stress and
they will end up dying without breeding. Providing these females
with milkweed (any kind of milkweed) will give their offspring a
chance to survive and contribute to the growth of future
generations of monarchs. Paradoxically, some of the same people
who think its cruel for commercial butterfly breeders to ship
monarchs to the northern states in the early Spring because
there is no milkweed for them that early in the year, think its
beneficial for home gardeners along the gulf coast to cut
tropical milkweed to the ground in the late fall and winter even
though the consequences are just as cruel: the females will
frantically look for milkweed and d