Tuesday, September 9, 2014

A little Goes a Long Way


Good News About Monarchs

The number of overwintering monarchs is expected to rise during the winter of 2014-2015.
Dr. Chip Taylor of Monarch Watch expects the overwintering population of monarchs in Mexico to be at least 1.4 hectares this winter, twice as large as last year. Though he cautions that without a recovery plan and more than a million acres of restored habitat, we are not out of the woods just yet. Even so, in my mind a little good news about monarchs goes a long way!

Check the peak migration times in your area. Do you have native nectar plants in bloom for them? 
The Best Milkweed for Your Area
The University of Minnesota has a Monarch Joint Venture program that encourages people to plant milkweed. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants and they are the only plants monarch caterpillars can eat. Check out their beautiful guide to see which milkweed plants are native to your area.

The graph shows how much fat a typical monarch has each month. Extra nectar is stored as fat for winter survival.  
Get Involved

Journey North, is a project that engages citizen scientists in a global study of wildlife that includes monarchs. Their website is full of great information. They have a free, new science app for your mobile phone. With the new app you can track the migration, report your sightings, take pictures and leave comments.
 If you don't have a mobile phone you can report your sightings here

They also have some fun booklets and slide shows for your kids. 

Download your free app here.
Look for more information on planting a butterfly garden, butterfly life cycles and special relationships between native plants and butterflies on our American Beauties Native Plants website. Enjoy our butterfly garden landscape plans here.

Bringing Life to Your Garden!

Have fun out there,

Peggy Anne






1 comment:

  1. Good article, I admire your work and must say not for a single moment I lost my interest in this blog while I was reading it. Thank you for sharing it

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