Help the Monarch Butterfly - plant milkweed in your garden!

Butterfly Milkweed

When I was creating a plant list for my Edible Landscape Project I knew I wanted to include milkweed. Not only is it a native plant and a great source of quality nectar for pollinators, it is key to the survival of one of our most beloved and easily identifiable insects - the Monarch Butterfly. These beautiful creatures are in real danger of extinction and as gardeners, we can do something about it.

"Monarch In May" by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson - Taken by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monarch_In_May.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Monarch_In_May.jpg

Monarch Butterflies have quite the story. After breeding in the spring and summer months throughout the US and Canada, the adults begin their migration south to Mexico, and certain areas of California, in the fall.  This can take several generations of butterfly to accomplish. After overwintering in huge colonies, the adults start their return journey north, looking for places to lay their eggs and thereby starting the cycle all over again.

Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed

Butterfly Milkweed

The problem for the Monarch in this story is their dependence on one plant. Milkweed (outside of a couple of other plants in the the dogbane family) is the only natural food source for the Monarch caterpillar and milkweed is becoming more and more difficult for the adults to find. As a result, Monarch numbers are rapidly declining. The good news is we can change that.

Butterfly Milkweed seed pods. When mature, the pod splits and the seeds, attached to 'silk.,' are carried by the wind.

Milkweed grows in natural habitats such as meadows, the edges of fields, along road sides and in wild, untamed areas. This means it falls victim to development projects, "beautification" efforts, roadside mowing and the increased use of herbicides in agriculture.

Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed flower buds

In 2008, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a treaty between the US, Canada and Mexico, published the North American Monarch Conservation Plan in response to the plight of the butterfly. Their number one recommendation was the restoration of breeding grounds. In other words, to save the Monarchs we need to save the milkweed!

Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed seed pods

There are many national organizations addressing this issue, including the Xerces Society. Efforts are being made to encourage the growth and sale of native milkweeds in nurseries, seeds are being harvested and included in wild flower mixes and education is being made available to farmers on the results of herbicide use on native plants and insects.

Common Milkweed. On a hike in The Berkshires, we found a whole field full of these.

As gardeners, we can help by planting milkweed native to our region. In the northeast, where I live, native milkweeds include Butterfly Milkweed, Swamp milkweed, Common Milkweed, Purple, Poke and Whorled Milkweed. I planted Butterfly Milkweed and Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed in my garden. Not only are these plants beautiful, but the bees and pollinators love them.

Honey Bee on Butterfly Milkweed

A great resource on this whole topic is the Monarch Joint Venture. Their website includes native milkweed varieties by region and also links to local suppliers.In Rhode Island, we have the Rhody Native project. The link will take you to their site and locations where you can buy milkweed native to our area.

Butterfly Milkweed seed pods

As I tend my garden I always look for Monarch Butterfly activity. I have yet to see a butterfly or a caterpillar but I'm not discouraged. I truly believe, as in the movie Field of Dreams, if we all build it, they will come.

Sue