Tainted Milkweed Plants

  Many of the large home improvement stores have been selling Milkweed plants that have been treated with systemic Neonicotinoids. These plants are poisonous to birds and butterflies.

  As we know, Milkweed is the host plant for the life cycle of Monarch butterflies. In April and May, eggs are laid on the plant and hatch into the caterpillar. The caterpillar spends its time eating and eating. After about two weeks of eating and growing, the caterpillar will find a place to attach itself so it can go through metamorphosis. It attaches itself to a stem or leaf of the Milkweed and transforms into the chrysalis. In 10 days, the adult butterfly emerges and will feed on the nectar of flowers.  

  The treated plants are being sold to well-meaning people who want to help the Monarchs. If you are purchasing Milkweed plants check the information on the identification tag to see if the plants have been treated with "systemic Neonicotinoids."

This issue is currently being addressed by various environment agencies but the plants are already out there, so check the tags!

Help adult Monarch butterflies thrive

Yesterday we looked at the troubles facing the caterpillars of Monarch butterflies because of the scarcity of milkweed, their only source of food and the only plant onto which eggs are laid. Today we look at the needs of adult Monarchs.

You can expand your garden to include many nectar plants which are needed as food for adult Monarchs. These plants can attract pollinating bees as well as provide other food for a variety of butterflies.

Some top nectar plants are 

• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
• Joe-Pye Weed which grows tall with multiple flower bunches
• Liatris which has multiple pink flowers opening on a tall stem
• Coreopsis which grows to medium height usually with many flowers
• Pentas, grown in our area as an annual
• Aster, a perennial which blooms late in the summer
• Butterfly weed which is drought tolerant
• Lantana, another plant grown as an annual in our area.

Bee balm and coneflower also are beneficial. An added benefit to coneflower is that later in the season, it offers seeds for goldfinches.

Many of these flowers will also offer nectar to hummingbirds.

The goal of a butterfly garden is to offer food and shelter for the entire life cycle of these butterflies. To best attract them, group same plants together and they will be more enticing to butterflies. From the butterflies' point of view, we cannot have too many flowering plants. Besides being beneficial, we can enjoy the view, too!

Black-eyed Susans

Joe-Pye Weed

Liatris

Coreposis

Penta

Aster

Butterfly Weed

Lantana

Bee Balm

Coneflower

Monarch butterflies are struggling

Most of us are looking forward to spring. But this year we may find a colorful addition to our backyards—Monarch butterflies—strangely absent.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, counts of these familiar orange and black insects are trending down so sharply that their migration is under threat. By some estimates, the Monarch butterfly population has declined by 90 percent over the past two decades, from about 1 billion butterflies in the mid-1990s to just 35 million this past year.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other advocacy groups filed a petition in August 2014 asking the federal government to step in. The Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the petition was worth considering and has launched a year-long review of the status of Monarch butterflies. This means that the butterfly, once common across the United States, could end up on the endangered species list.

Scientists say that the butterfly's decline is linked to a rise in genetically engineered crops which are altered to be resistant to milkweed, the Monarch butterfly caterpillar's only source of food. Monsanto's Roundup herbicide is so successful that milkweed plants have virtually disappeared in Midwestern corn and soybean fields. This is the equivalent of the loss of butterfly habitat the size of Texas.

Monarch caterpillars feast on milkweed leaf

How can we help?

Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies. Eggs are laid in the spring; milkweed is the only source of food for the larvae. We can collect and sow milkweed seeds. Ideally fall is the best time to harvest seeds when the pods are brown, dry and starting to crack open.

Don't have seeds now? No problem. Check the Live Monarch website for ordering seeds. There has been such a demand for the seeds that Live Monarch is behind in its orders. Place your order now but you may not receive your seeds until the end of April. A contribution of $3.50 for 150 seeds is requested for processing and shipping.

Every little bit helps. It doesn't take huge number of plants in any one stop to help Monarchs, especially during migration.

(Tomorrow: Plants that benefit adult butterflies)