That article takes a somewhat politically correct slant on the subject. FACT: overpopulation of deer is helping invasive thrive over natives, because they'd rather eat natives to extinction. The exotics taste bad to deer. But, oh no, we can't kill off bambi. This actually leads to an amusing scenario where "leftists" and "rightists" end up on the same side of the issue. The former don't want culling of herds because OMG the poor deer will be shot, the latter don't want deer to be too hard to find when they hunt, so they see state herd "management" as a good thing. I've heard some old burghers of Harford county talk about their hunts on the MARC train. They can bag 5-8 deer in a single night! Too easy I say! A handful of us sane ones are left in the middle, who realize deer should be hunted as close as possible to extinction east of the Appalachians. Without a top order predator, they are now out of ecological balance. Otherwise, we have to allow coyotes and wolves back into the area, and worry about our cats and yippy dogs being eaten. (And yes, I'm glad they have killed the ones they do, I have no doubt the reason I don't have near the deer problem people in more genteel areas like the Philly Mainline do is because they are being killed in massive numbers by locals. Keep killing, guys!) FACT: the alteration of the landscape on the east coast has created artificial environments where exotics thrive. Yet where is this writer advocating the complete cessation of absolutely all land development of any kind, to save what's left? Let's close all the railroads, and highways, since they create corridors for invasives to move. (in some cases, even invasives from other parts of the US! I have no doubt the Baccharis halimifolia along I-95 north of Baltimore are not native to that area.) Sorry, politically progressive ecologically minded writers. No more Acela for you. Flying will help preserve native woodlands much better. FACT: 95% of native species have been lost their range to farming, not to invasives. The problem is really that invasive and natives are fighting for tiny pieces of the pie that are left after agriculture. Yet, is the writer advocating the wholesale abandonment of agricultural lands? I don't see that anywhere. One of the reasons people like the landscape of Maryland versus some other states is how much "open land' there is, because "liberal" Maryland was a pioneer in undertaking means to protect agricultural land. As you fly over the Potomac to land at Dulles, the contrast being the MoCo agricultural preserve and NoVA is stark. Yes those fields create forest edges which would not otherwise exist, and are exactly the places where invasives take hold. FACT: she's actually wrong about all of those being introduced by the so-called horticultural trade. Multiflora was brought into control soil erosion - doesn't sound like horticulture to me, sounds like agriculture. Other invasives were brought in by private agricultural interests. So, I actually agree that people should plant butterfly bush with caution, but the whole issue of invasives has a larger ecological context that many of these native plant snobs ignore. Here's a great article by Stephen Jay Gould on the matter: Here is a link that might be useful: http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/483.pdf This post was edited by davidrt28 on Mon, May 5, 14 at 20:07

You only have enough milkweed when your supply = demand. Since you're in Zone 9 it's like the milkweed cafeteria is always open so you need to plant as much as your landscape can hold. Usually predators keep things in check, but if they're in short supply, you'll need to keep increasing your number of plants until you have enough. I may have 150 plants, and my neighbors have plants also so there is generally no supply problem in Missouri.

If you don't have a hard freeze, it should be okay. They can usually survive temps down to 45 or below depending on where they are located. Some areas of the yard have microclimates. The lower temps do slow down the cycle and it will take it longer to pupate. If the area is not totally secured, it will leave the plant to pupate. Here is a link that might be useful: Raising Monarchs Info from Monarch Watch

I don't know about DFW but down here in SA they devoured asclepias curassavica.