Why Monarchs?

Monarch butterflies are a unique species of insect with exceptional life cycles.  Most monarch populations migrate from Mexico to Canada and back each year, making them dependent on nectar rich flowers and milkweed across a large swath of North America.  Four different butterflies each fly different sections of the trip. Remarkably, newly emerged butterflies pick up where their mothers left off weeks before, continuing the journey until the cycle is complete. Due to several factors including poisonous pesticides and  loss of habitat for butterfly food, caterpillar food, and trees for living in during the winter, the monarch population is declining and may soon be extinct. 

Why Milkweed?

Milkweed leaves are the only food that monarch caterpillars can eat! Monarchs evolved to eat milkweed leaves to protect them from predation, as the milkweed makes monarchs poisonous.  In addition to milkweed, it is important to grow “pollinator friendly” flowers, so that monarch butterflies have nectar to eat and drink while migrating. It is important that both milkweed and pollinator flowers are protected from pesticides, which will harm or kill the insects.

Milkweed is a perennial plant.  This means that the stem, leaves, and flower will sprout each spring and “die back” each winter.  The milkweed roots will form a rhizome, which will stay alive underground through the winter and support the plant’s new sprout in the spring.  This means that your milkweed plot will look bare through the winter.  It also means that you only have to plant once to have milkweed in your garden for years and years to come!

What can we do?

Eliminate pesticides and grow nectar filled flowers!

Even a small patch of milkweed will attract and feed monarchs. However, the more you grow, the more insects - butterflies and other pollinators like bees - will benefit from your efforts.