I want to plant a butterfly garden in a section of our property next year. I better get going!

for each region of the country. The plants are shipped via UPS and my order of 32 plants arrived in great condition. I planted some and the rest were quickly grabbed up by friends. I think that all of us who planted milkweeds in the spring were rewarded with blooms this summer. I have several plants that my parents cultivated in the 1980s that are still thriving. Alas, I have yet to see a Monarch this year. I still have hope, though, that they are a bit late this year.

http://www.monarchwatch.org/

I have to admit, every time I see commercials for weed killers, chemical lawn fertilizers, etc (you know which ones I mean) I just want to scream. You would think there is something intrinsically wrong with having a natural yard!

The goal of a green lawn began in U.K. as a way to demonstrate that you owned excess land that could be used for no useful purpose except decoration.

Fast forward to the suburbs and the goal of a green lawn on everyone's property was incorporated into municipal regulations. These required perfectly kept lawns with grass not taller than - inches.

My friend was issued a directive to remove "weeds" from her lawn. In court, she identified each plant and its function as an edible plant, butterfly attractant or whatever. Case was actually dismissed.

People who care about Monarchs and such need to present before town committees to request changes in ordinances and also request that vacant property be allowed to remain undisturbed.

My milkweed plants (which are kind of ugly) chose to grow right in the middle of some flowers in my garden. I took extra care to keep them for the butterflies. I'm going to save the seeds and distribute them over more area.

I think it's quite an attractive plant but I haven't been able to propagate any new plants from the seed pods.

Here's a picture of it: http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/help-monarchs-with-the-right-milkweeds/

It is very beautiful. I remember that years ago, they would often be covered with Monarchs. Haven't seen any this year.

.... butterfly weed in our herb garden. It is not as good as milkweed for Monarchs, but useful.

Next year I will try to get some milkweed growing.

Orange Butterfly Weed, Common Milkweed, Swamp Red Milkweed,
Sullivants Milkweed, and so on are all Asclepias sp. All of these plants
are good for monarchs and other native pollinators.

Red Milweed likes things a little more damp where as Orange Butterfly
Weed likes things a little dryer. P.M. if you want some red milkweed seed.

two good books





BTW I have seen many many more monarchs this year then last ..... I have one red milkweed
w/ @ least 10 monarch catterpillar on it right now.

Out of dozens of cats, only a couple made it that even remotely looked normal. The others were infested with that parasite that interferes with their metamorphosis. And I spent at least seventy dollars on milkweed that season to keep the herd happy. They are voracious eaters.

Seriously, to make this work we need two things to happen:

1) Better instructions on how to minimize this parasite from overtaking the food source because, right now the only answer is to destroy the plants.

2) State law that can override HOA regulations.