Monarchs?

As of yesterday my monarch count was at 21. That's 21 monarchs I have seen up to early October, which is an alarmingly small number when you consider the fact that I work in gardens and a garden center 6 days a week. The decline of the monarch butterfly is big news, and I suspect it will only get bigger. We might tell stories of long gone orange butterflies to our grandchildren, how they migrated from Mexico,  flying over fields rich with milkweed, which is the single, one and only plant the caterpillar eats.

East coast monarchs migrate to Mexico, some flying 3,000 miles - twice, the only butterfly to do so. The spring monarchs search out asclepias, and any variety will do, but their favorite is Asclepias curassavica, commonly known as Mexican Milkweed or bloodflower. The offspring of the first monarchs to arrive, remain for the summer and it's their children that will make the long trip back to overwintering grounds in Mexico.The critical phase for survival is finding milkweed as they arrive in spring and then summer as a second generation is born. 

So I was driving the other day and saw a roadside planting of cosmos. A lovely sight and a common sight. Cosmos seems to be the favored planting, but I have seen poppies, larkspur, gloriosa daisies and corn flowers planted in mass.

I think that all of these roadside plantings need to be turned into Asclepias curissavica plantings. They are as easy to grow as cosmos (or zinnia), direct sowing will do. The price will be higher, a quick price check showed $34.56 for a lb. of cosmos, versus $115.20 for the same weight in asclepias, but we could be saving a dying species. My point being, that if you know of anyone that plants these isolated beds at park entrances, or in median strips, have a little talk with them. Let's see if we can't do our part in helping the monarchs find food. 

And in the meantime, we can all plant more asclepias. Native perennial species ~ A. tuberosa, syriacus, or incarnata will come back every year. In spring, direct sow some Asclepias curissavica (a tender perennial) and you will probably find that they reseed for you.  I let them reseed every spring and always plant a few more, just to make sure I have enough. I have had good years when I have so many larvae that they eat all of the foliage and start on the seeds. 

  We really must try to make this better! All of us.

 

Comments

[Mona]

I had a lot of butterflies in my yard, but I have had to rear and release them. I've been working with Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy on their Monarch Campaign. We've wrote a fact sheet for Highways about their management for wildlife using native plants. http://www.loudounwildlife.org/.../Highways_and_Byways.pdf

This is the main Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy Monarch Campaign webpage. Lots of information on how to help Monarch butterflies. When you help Monarchs you are helping other wildlife, too. http://www.loudounwildlife.org/Monarch_Campaign.html

[Enid Adams]

Ban praying mantises from your garden if you are a friend of butterflies. I was heartbroken last year to see one of the few monarchs that emerged had been devoured, it's fresh near-perfect wings barely used. I mowed around a huge stand of milkweed all year but only a few monarchs appeared. All 2013 mantis cases are going to the burn pile, unless the mantises develop a taste for stinkbugs, which they've shown no signs of.

[dean osgood]

Sadly Roundup and its chemical make up is the number one killer of milkweed and farming communities love the herbicide!!! Mantis eat everything and should not be killed else you will find many more unwanted critters in your garden! They are one of the few predators at the top of the insect food chain.

[Karen]

Some feel strongly that the Chinese mantis is a part of the butterfly decline. I know one gardener that collects the eggs to burn. The Carolina mantis is much smaller and infrequent here in Virginia, so I don't see it as any part of the problem. Too bad some of the farmers, in good gesture and PR, wouldn't edge their fields with Asclepias currasavica. Yes, I know, money and work-arounds...