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Vegetable Gardening

Plant Milkweed for Monarch Butterflies

14 years ago

Monarchs are under Siege.
This year may be one of the worst for the monarch butterfly, experts are reporting.

Severe hailstorms in Mexico (one of the monarchÂs winter homes) followed by 15 inches of rain has left the population decimated by up to 50 percent this year. Add to that the ongoing issue of habitat destruction, and the future of the monarch begins to look a little shaky.

Unlike most other insects in temperate climates, monarch butterflies cannot survive a long cold winter, according to MonarchWatch.org. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots. Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast, while those east of the Rocky Mountains fly farther south to the forests high in the mountains of Mexico.

No other butterflies migrate like North American monarchs. They are the only butterflies to make such a long, round-trip migration of up to three thousand miles every year. ItÂs like "The Odyssey" of the insect world.

....An advocacy group is encouraging the public to create monarch habitats by planting milkweed in home gardens. They're also encouraging schools, zoos, farmers, and anyone else with access to unused land to grow the perennial plants.

Visit Monarchwatch.org to find out what else you can do. For more ways to help butterflies see First Aid for Butterflies and How to Make Butterfly Food.

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Comments (7)

dicot
14 years ago
I remember waiting every year for their return to the eucalyptus grove next to where I lived when I went to UCSB, there were thousands of monarchs hanging all over the lower limbs. It had to be one of the most incredible natural displays I'd ever seen. Now there's a Hilton there. Yay, progress.

I try and keep about 5-6 asclepias going all the time, but there are so many seeds and so many aphids that more than that gets to be too much.
Donna
14 years ago
I read the same article last week. I'm glad to say I have Asclepias incarnata seedlings on my deck right now. I always have curavassica too. Do you know of other plants they like, or do feed exclusively on Milkweed?
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I have common milkweed growing all over my property. I never cut it down, even if it grows in a flower bed. It really is a butterfly magnet. Not only have I seen Monarch butterflies attracted to it but other varieties of butterflies too. I also have other varieties of Milkweed but the butterflies don't seem to be as attracted to them as they are to the common variety.
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Well Wis Tom, NO I have not been organic gardening since the 70's lol, but I did garden during that period. There is no need to convince you of my qualifications on Monarchs, GMO's, Monsanto etc., but I'm glad you read my talking points, hopefully it helped. What does it have to do with trees? Well I did qualify the post with which tree would best help the Monarch, or did you not read that? But you and Brandon made the thread a war zone not I. Let's look at the first responses of Brandon and yourself - shall we? "sensationalism/spam" from ol' Brandon "Alarmist media" "Attain your level of wisdom" from you Tom The reality is you two psuedo-intellectuals have no idea whatsoever as to what your talking about in this matter or in your case Tom you may want to get back to the sales dept of Monsanto.
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
14 years ago
Just milkweed, donna. I have 15 or 20 plants that they eat down to nubs every year. I've never seen them flower, lol! I'm glad I planted them in a spot I don't have to look at them all the time! All I do is some aphid squishing and let the caterpillars have at it.
Donna
14 years ago
Thanks, rhizo. I have some area on the edge of my south facing woods that sounds just right for milkweed. It's warmed up, so time to get at it around here.
marlingardener
14 years ago
We have a site set aside in our pasture for milkweed, and are on the MonarchWatch sponsored by the U. of Minnesota. We monitor eggs, instars and adults, and have a great time doing it! Our milkweed occured naturally, but I gather and spread the seed every year.
Monarch populations fluctuate normally, but this year seems to have had a particularly strange confluence of bad weather!
bejay9_10
14 years ago
There is a patch of anise or fennel weed that reseeds every year in the lot behind our house. It seems to attract butterfly habitat, but not sure about milkweed.

However, about 5 years ago, we awoke one morning - and going outside, found ourselves in the midst of a huge Monarch migration. What a sight, they just kept on coming, and seemed to be from the ocean. It looked as though they were headed for a huge growth of wild mustard - down in the canyon behind our house.

We have lived here over 30 years, and that was the first one we had seen.

Fantastic!

We see swallowtail, mourning cloaks, a few monarchs every year, but that migration was a once-in-a-lifetime event, I'm afraid.

Bejay
instar8
14 years ago
I have my milkweed patches! And plant some late-blooming flowers for the adults to stoke up on before they migrate, here they love tithonia (Mexican sunflower), any sort of aster, sedum, butterfly bush, coneflower or anything with a flat daisy-shape, goldenrod, yarrow.

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