One of our Butterfly Milkweed plants with one very happy Monarch butterfly
Milkweed for Monarchs
Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. As such, milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle and their populations decline.
Indeed, eradication of milkweed both in agricultural areas as well as in urban and suburban landscapes is one of the primary reasons that monarchs are in trouble today.
Plant Milkweed!
The good news is that planting milkweed is one of the easiest ways that each of us can make a difference for monarchs.
Last fall, we harvested the milkweed pods as they burst open for planting this spring. Over the winter we stored the pods in the refrigerator. Each pod contains hundreds of individual seeds, so we were hoping at least half of them would germinate when planted. To our great surprise, almost all the seeds we planted germinated and we now have butterfly milkweed over the entire farm! Our sanctuary is now a giant "welcome mat" for for the Monarch butterfly!
We recently provided a pod for use in the butterfly garden of a local city park. We would like to provide pods to all of the surrounding cities for starting butterfly gardens. We are hoping to encourage the Kentucky Department of Parks to create butterfly gardens in all Kentucky State Parks.
Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. As such, milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle and their populations decline.
Indeed, eradication of milkweed both in agricultural areas as well as in urban and suburban landscapes is one of the primary reasons that monarchs are in trouble today.
Plant Milkweed!
The good news is that planting milkweed is one of the easiest ways that each of us can make a difference for monarchs.
Last fall, we harvested the milkweed pods as they burst open for planting this spring. Over the winter we stored the pods in the refrigerator. Each pod contains hundreds of individual seeds, so we were hoping at least half of them would germinate when planted. To our great surprise, almost all the seeds we planted germinated and we now have butterfly milkweed over the entire farm! Our sanctuary is now a giant "welcome mat" for for the Monarch butterfly!
We recently provided a pod for use in the butterfly garden of a local city park. We would like to provide pods to all of the surrounding cities for starting butterfly gardens. We are hoping to encourage the Kentucky Department of Parks to create butterfly gardens in all Kentucky State Parks.