Milkweed Options

More and more people are realizing the importance of milkweed to the Monarch Butterfly and looking for sources of plants and seeds. Buying large transplants at a local nursery is the easiest way, but can get expensive, over $7 a plant. At Monarch Watch  you can order a minimum of 4 flats of 50 plugs, small rooted seedlings, for any restoration project free of charge, if you pay shipping of between $40 to $60. Monsanto is providing the funding for this initiative.  Monsanto is pulling out all the stops to improve their public image and is partnering with non-profits like Monarch Watch and providing funding for programs that are committed to help the Monarch.

I am restoring a field around my beehives and have ordered some of these flats. For my area of Maryland, the native plants that will be shipped is Asclepias syriaca or Common Milkweed. Go to Got Milk….Weed? to check out the importance of this plant to the Monarch as well as a whole array of other creatures.

Monarch Way Station

Creating a Monarch Way Station, which are plantings specific to Monarchs, is a great way to help the Monarch. Providing shelter and food for Monarchs on their long migration journey, Monarch Way Stations are popping up everywhere and Milkweed is the only food source that the caterpillars will eat to produce those beautiful butterflies. Helping Monarchs in this way helps many other species of insects and animals providing them with pollen and food sources.

 

Starting Milkweed

Reading that the Tropical Milkweed was easy to start from seed and was a favorite of the caterpillars, I decided to start them inside this year. Stratification, which is soaking and chilling the seeds for at least 6 weeks, was recommended for most other varieties, so I instead chose growing the Tropical variety and sowed the seeds in peat pots last week.

Readily available from Joyful Butterfly for $2.95 for 100 seeds, the seedlings quickly emerged and I put them under grow lights.