A monarch butterfly feeding

LET’S TALK GARDENING – Loving Our Monarch Butterflies

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MONARCH DECLINE

A couple of weeks ago, Eve Roemhildt, our Virginia Certified Horticulturist, gave a very informative and enlightening talk on native plants and supporting our pollinators. Her talk has inspired this blog and my desire to highlight our Monarch butterflies.

I am going to get onto my soapbox for a minute. As citizens of this Earth, we need to do whatever we can to support our pollinators. The one easy step we all can do to give support is to plant perennials, trees, shrubs, herbs, and annuals that give support.

Keep these thoughts in mind:

MORE THAN 85% OF THE EARTH’S PLANTS REQUIRE POLLINATORS TO EXIST

Here are a few recent statistics on Monarch butterflies to keep in mind:

  1. A few years ago at the end of the monarchs’ journey to Mexico, the monarchs occupied most of the 50 acres. In 2017 it dropped to 2.94 acres. To me, this statistic alone is eye-opening and alarming.
  2. In 2016, estimates were down to 100 million monarchs. By 2017, the estimates were at 78 million individuals.
  3. In 2019, it got better as the monarchs occupied several acres.
  4. One of the most critical ordeals for monarch butterflies is that their habitat has nearly disappeared. We have lost from 120 million to 150 million acres from the use of herbicides, which has almost destroyed milkweed and its relatives. This is not just the primary source of food for the monarch but the only source of food for the larvae.

OUR HELP IS CRITICAL

Our help is crucial to keep butterfly and moth pollinators thriving! Studies are saying that we all need to be setting aside space in our gardens and allow weeds like the Asclepias “milkweed” and their relatives to have a chance to survive.

AMERICAN BEAUTIES

We carry a great selection of American Beauties Native Plants. Some of our selection includes Butterfly Milkweed, Baptisia, Coreopsis, Joe Pye Weed, Cardinal Flower, Bee Balm, Aster, and so many more. We love having this line of plants to offer to our customers. Your help is crucial to keep butterfly and moth pollinators thriving. Using these American Beauties Native Plants in your landscape provides essential support so butterflies and moths can exist and continue pollinating. If you want to learn more about American Beauties Native Plants visit www.abnativeplants.com for more information.

PLANT A LITTLE HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To read more posts from Doug, visit our blog

6 thoughts on “LET’S TALK GARDENING – Loving Our Monarch Butterflies”

  1. I’d like to get some more plants for the Monarchs. I have a little bit of Milkweed but not much. Last year I had about 8 or so caterpillars but they disappeared and I don’t know if they blossomed.
    Can you direct me to the purchase of the appropriate plants and locations?
    I’m in Martinsburg, WV.
    I’m a VIP and on your email list.
    Many thanks,
    Steve Hedges

    • Stephen,
      Glad you are on board with supporting our butterflies and other pollinators. We will have milkweed available in a couple of weeks – closer to May. We do have Right now we have a good selection of plants that support our pollinators / butterflies. My advice is to come to the garden center either on a Thursday or a Friday for the best selection available. Saturday is not too bad of a day. But, come Sunday and Monday we do sell down quite a bit. Doug

  2. Hi,
    Happy to hear you have a good supply of Native Plants. Are you planning on having them on sale for Earth Day next Thursday?
    Thanks for your response.
    Bright beams,
    Janice Beatty

    • Janice,
      Good Afternoon.
      Thank you for this message. I doubt that American Beauties will be on sale. The reason is simple – we can not keep native plants in stock. They are so popular right now. This is a good thing. Doug

  3. If you gather the milkweed seeds and wait till late fall you can sprinkle them on the ground, cover a little bit, and you’ll be surprised at how much sprouts the following year.
    We did this the first year we had milkweed and were amazed at how many plants we got the 2nd year.

    • Julie,
      Thank you. Your comments are very timely. Tomorrow, we are offering a kids activity where they will be re-potting milkweed into a 4′ pot. AND, the kids will be able to take home some milkweed seed packs. I will be sure to let then know to hold on sewing the seeds until late fall. Thank you again, Doug

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