Helping Monarchs: Plant Your Own Milkweed

 

Over Labor Day Weekend, we enjoyed a great visit to a neighboring fair.

 One of my favorite exhibits there is a parks area where all kind of natural living is exhibited, everything from choosing a great hunting dog, making maple syrup, archery and wildlife shows.  This year we happened to attend a butterfly tagging workshop for Monarchs. Like many of you, I love butterflies and try to plant as many flower varieties as I can to attract them.  I found out that this year though, the butterfly population was way down.

I found out that it was because of two reasons.  The first is loss of habitat.  That of course is understandable because of cultivation, building, herbicides and so on.  The second is because our weather pattern in the northeast last year was very dry and it led to the lack of enough plant material to host the monarchs.  So, the weather last year affected the population this year, including the monarchs overwintering in Mexico.

The naturalist showing how to tag a monarch.

How do they know about the populations and where the monarchs travel?  It comes from the tagging program.  Basically tagging monarchs is putting an ID sticker on one of their wings which doesn't interfere with their flight and helps other naturalists to track the population and it's health. Who tags them?  Anyone who would like to... I'm in.  

Obviously not everyone wants to chase butterflies with a net and place a sticker on them, so how else can we help?

Butterfly Garden at the Nature Center Display

Well, that takes us back to the first problem facing the monarchs...loss of habitat.  This is an easy remedy.  There's only one plant the monarchs need as a host plant and this is milkweed.  Milkweed comes in many different species including, tropical, swamp, showy, purple, as well as common milkweed.  

Milkweed gets its name from the white latex type sap that comes when you break any part of the plant.  This sap must be milk to monarchs because it's their number one caterpillar food of choice!

One of two caterpillars we found at our community garden.

You can help the monarch by including Milkweed in your garden space.  We don't actually plant ours because as it is a weed, it comes up by itself.  We just let it some plants come up in our community garden space for the butterflies. Remember, common milkweed is a, well, a weed.  It will get very invasive if it's left to itself in fertile soil.  So, we keep some around but weed the rest.  

This year, we actually found some monarch caterpillars on our milkweed!  Not just one, mind you, but two bit fat caterpillars!  It's the best kind of nursery to have...we really did it by not interfering with nature's process too much.  Allow a few plants to grow and bloom and let the butterflies do the rest. 

This monarch caterpillar is just about ready to pupate!

Experts suggest if you would like to grow your own common milkweed, try planting it in pots so it doesn't get take over your garden or buy some more exotic varieties that aren't quite as vigorous to reproduce.  You can find some more info here.

As for us. we have found the perfect balance by letting it grow where it's already at and enjoy helping out these amazing butterfly wonders.  Here's hoping you can help you too.

First: Identify milkweed in your area or property and allow some to grow.

Second:  Purchase some special varieties of milkweed to grow in your garden space.

Third: Plant lots of flower varieties like zinnias, marigolds and echinacea to feed the mature butterflies.

Fourth: Limit your use of any herbicides or pesticides in your garden space to encourage these winged wonders.

Thanks for reading!!  To find out more about tagging Monarchs, go to http://monarchwatch.org/
to order tagging kits and nets.  Be blessed!

Have you noticed many Monarchs in your area? 



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Out of the Archives: Butterfly Beauty

 

 I know I am jumping the gun by posting pictures of this butterfly, but I couldn't hold back the spring fever it brought on while I was clearing out the camera from last year. I found these two pictures that I took in August.  And being as our weather here still contains the word "snow," I thought this little butterfly was a great picture of what is to come in a very short while...

The butterfly is only a 1/2 inch long and is called "Peck's Butterfly."  It's actually a skipper type of butterfly because of the way it flies in short skipping motions.  It was hard getting a picture of this kind because they are constantly in motion and extremely fast moving.  It's busily working on a white "Zinnia Profusion," a short and spreading zinnia hybrid that did awesomely well in containers as well as attracting lots of these little guys.

As my camera is only a simple point and shoot, I was pretty happy to get these photos.  And feel a little more assured that Spring is coming soon..!

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Echinacea: 3 Reasons to Grow This Medicinal Flower

Echinacea Purpurea...aka "Purple Coneflower."  This multi-talented plant has been involved in herbal medicine and enjoyed for it's bold purple blooms for decades.  What's so great about this North American native wildflower?  Why should you include it in your landscape? Keep reading because we're going to look at three reasons why you will want to consider planting this valuable and beautiful flower.

1. Echinacea is a great attractor for butterflies and pollinating insects.

It really is.  I am speaking from experience here too.  This flower is covered with pollinators when in full bloom.  And it's no wonder why either when you look at the giant cone center with the drooping petals which provides an easy resting spot for butterflies and lots of nectar and pollen for other insects.  My stand of echinacea is always a highway of activity and a great butterfly spotting station mid summer.  If you leave the seed heads of the flowers alone in the fall, you'll also attract goldfinches which love their seeds.  This flower is one of the best plants I've seen to bring nature right into your own backyard. 

2.  Echinacea is an easy-care and drought resistant perennial.

 That's right; very easy to plant and take care of.  Once sown, either by seed or by plants, echinacea will establish itself very easily.  A native to Texas and out west, it's used to living on less than ideal water which means this plant is tough. It being tough means that it's easier on your budget as well. Hardy in zones 3-8, this plant is able to grow in many locations. Echinacea likes fertile, well-drained soil in a sunny location.  With rich soil, it should grow about 3-4 feet high and produce flowers 4-6 inches across and it makes a nice addition to the back of your flower or herb bed. 

It's beautiful purple works well in most flower beds, but don't worry if you're not into purple...there are now many varieties of echinacea that come in an array of colors.

Echinacea will also self sow freely, so if you don't want to weed plants the next year, be sure to dead head them to prevent this.  They can take over a flower bed if left to themselves.  I alternate dead-heading every year as I like to let the goldfinches have at the seeds.  Even though it is a perennial, I find that the plants don't necessarily live too many years, they just tend to replace themselves through self-sowing in the flower beds.  So, if you're growing a different colored variety, check to see how hardy that particular echinacea is in your zone.

3. Echinacea is an immune system builder and the leaves, flowers and roots are all medicinal.

Native Americans long valued this plant for it's immune system help and reputation as a help with fevers.  It's come in and out of fashion in the herbal world; but really should be in every established herb or flower garden.  Be aware that this basic variety and not the newer colored varieties are the most medicinal.  So if you're growing it with this use in mind, make sure to purchase echinacea purpurea.

Even though echinacea augustifolia is the more well-known medicinal flower of the two varieties, purpurea is easier to grow and much hardier.  Typically the roots are used in herbal preparations of tinctures, decoctions and teas, but the leaves and flowers have some medicinal value as well, especially in teas.  I don't want to sacrifice my plant by digging up the roots; plus, let's face it, it's hard work to dig it up and dry them for decoctions so I harvest the topmost leaves and newest flowers for my tea blend.

 I made a tea for my kids when they were toddlers from the leaves and flowers as a supplement for them when they were fighting a cold or getting over an ear infection.  Using this milder form still seemed to help them along in their recovery.  You can grow plants and harvest your own roots, or you can order them online to make your own teas or tinctures.  At least I have the plant available if I did need the roots for stronger medicine.  You typically want to harvest roots from 3 year old plants and during the fall once they are done flowering.

Echinacea Tea
1 part echinacea parts, leaves, flowers, roots
1/4 part lemon grass
1/4 part spearmint leaves (or to taste)
Stevia leaves to taste

Mix and brew at the first sign of cold or flu.  Based on the Traditional Medicinal recipe.

 
Hopefully after reading this, you'll understand the immense value of this versatile and wonderful plant.  To me, it's the first plant going into any new flower bed because of wonderful attributes.  So, if you haven't planted one yet, now is the perfect time to find a start from a friend in early spring (transplant when really young for the best start) or start your own seeds...you won't regret this one!

Do you grow echinacea?  How do you use your plants?

Blessings!

References:

1. http://www.gardenguides.com/499-coneflower-echinacea-purpurea-garden-basics-flower-perennial.html

2. http://www.naturalmedicinesofnc.org/Growers%20Guides/Ech.purp-gg.pdf
 

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Celebrating at the Holden Arboretum

This recent July 4th had to have been one of the hottest days of the year so far.  However, the idea of being inside any building for most of the day just doesn't feel right on this special holiday, at least  for me!  So, even with the threat of hot, humid weather and severe thunderstorms lurking about, we decided to take the risk and visit one of our favorite spots in the area.

The Holden Arboretum contains preserved land with over a 1000+ acres and over 100 acres are accessible to visitors who come to this unique place.  With twelve collections of lilacs, trees, bushes, etc intersected with cement and gravel paths; there's something new to see around every corner.

As you can tell by the photos, the rain held off even if the temperatures were unrelenting!  We had a great picnic with some great friends and then set off exploring.

Here are just a few of the snapshots caught before the mid day heat set in.  They are all of the Butterfly Garden which is located right behind the Visitor's Center.  Knowing how much I like gardens, I think you'll agree that these flowers are just a little bit of heaven!

Monarda or Bee Balm, explodes in a fire cracker red.

The water feature section of The Butterfly Garden.

 A bee burrowing into a Stokesia flower. Notice the pollen sacs on it's legs.

Daisies are the essence of summer.

I really wanted to sit in the middle of that running water!

Another butterfly plant...I didn't see too many butterflies that day, I think they were smarter than us and stayed "in!"

A perfect shady spot for a little friend to dream...

It was a beautiful day all in all.  We had a fun 4th and took a two mile hike where we saw not one but TWO Great Horned Owls in a tree.  Amazing!  

Hope you had a super holiday as well...blessings to you all!

For more information on the Arboretum, click here.