Saving the Monarchs

Monarch butterflies are one of the most easily recognized and beloved butterflies we see. Everyone knows the bright orange and black markings of the monarch. It's hard to imagine a world without them-- but it could happen. Monarchs, like all butterflies, are threatened by the loss of habitat that happens when development turns meadows and fields into condos and shopping malls. Host plants are mowed down, and pesticides and herbicides are lethal. Monarchs are in particular danger because the plants they depend on, milkweed, are disappearing in the wild.

What can one person do to help?! Last year my mate4life and I planted a new flower bed, a butterfly garden. I did some research and came up with a list of plants that are good sources of nectar. Word must have spread, because we had many beautiful butterfly visitors to the flower beds. The photo above shows a monarch on one of my lantanas, taken last Sept.

This year, I am taking the butterfly bed a step further --planting host plants, where monarchs and perhaps other species can lay their eggs. Milkweed plants support the emerging lavae and adult monarchs.

There is an organization called Monarch Watch that helps people start butterfly gardens and certifies back yard butterfly gardens as Monarch Waystations: http://www.monarchwatch.org I'm preparing our back yard garden to meet the requirements of a Waystation.

Nectar plants in our flower beds:
Lantana (planted as annuals every year, not hardy in Indiana.)
Rudbeckia (perennial variety)
Galliardia (Blanket flower)
Echinacea (purple coneflower)
Coreopsis
Bee Balm
Zinnias (important to include single flowers like Pinwheel Zinnias--bees need them, and hummingbirds like them!)
Salvia
Catmint (purple flowers, looks like salvia)
Joe Pye Weed (native species, very good nectar plant--and besides, I love the name!)

Milkweed host plants: so far, 3 swamp milkweed plants (Asclepias incarnata) and 2 butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Monarch Watch says 10 plants or more is ideal, so this weekend's task is to add some more plants. You can do this more cheaply with seeds, but it is not so easy, and I think my chances of success are very low.

So far this spring, we've had Tiger Swallowtails, an American Lady, a yellow sulphur, and a small blue butterfly that was too quick for me to identify. We'll keep watching, and planting, for more butterflies.

Further reading:
Brock, Jim, and Kenn Kaufman. Butterflies of North America (Kaufman Focus Guides), 2003.
"Butterfly Blues: Rescuing Rare Beauties," National Wildlife. June/July, 2008.
Marent, Thomas. Butterfly: A Photographic Portrait. Dorling-Kindersley, 2008.

I GOTTA PLANT SOMETHING!

I know spring is supposed to be wet and cold, but I've really had it up to here with this one. The cold can be very energy-sapping. But I think I've got to plant something or burst!

The most important flowers in my garden are the zinnias. I devote one raised bed to them, and stick them in other spots as well. Butterflies and bees love them, and hummingbirds, too. After the flowers are spent, the goldfinches perch on the stems and tear into the seed heads. So they're a real crowd-pleaser. But some varieties don't produce much nectar and so they won't be very attractive to butterflies or hummingbirds.

Last year, I found these to be successful and attractive: Burpee's Pinwheel Mix, Burpee's Giant Flowered Mix. I also planted a cactus-flowered variety that didn't do as well. In previous years, I've planted Cut & Come Again with success.

Usually, zinnias work best if they're direct-seeded in the garden, but tonight I planted some in newspaper pots. And, because a bored gardener is a dangerous thing, let's have a little contest. I planted 1 pot with Thumbelina Zinnia seeds from Fredonia, a brand I've never tried before, and 2 of the pots with Burpee Thumbelina Zinnias -- but they're seeds from 2005. I guess that's to even the field.

The whole brand thing is a disturbing issue that leads into murky territory -- but that's a story for another time. For now, I'm putting my little pots in the window and hoping, hoping, for a real spring.