Milkweed and Monarchs

What if?

Planting seeds is a solitary endeavor, and is one of the few things I like to do alone.

It requires concentration and attention to detail.  Although I am a social creature, and enjoy being with people, seeding flats gives me time to think, and time to let my thoughts wander.

As my mind meandered and I planted milkweed seeds the other day, I thought

"These seeds look just like the Eywa in the movie Avatar."

I loved the movie's message and was totally wrapped up with thoughts of

...how wonderful it would be if we would all take better care of the earth and 

not just take what we want when we want it.

...the interconnectedness of nature and how we can destroy it or save it.

...the resonating message that all living beings are connected in ways 

many of us fail to understand.

My mind then wandered to a passage from Alexandra Fuller's 

recent book Leaving Before the Rains Come:

The way we treat land, and the ghosts of our land, is the way we will treat everything, 

including ourselves. People who are careless of the land and of the 

creatures and spirits with which we share it are careless of themselves.

Powerful stuff, this.

 Then I started to think about the milkweeds and the monarch butterfly and

how, perhaps, we could make a difference.

To us, it would be small to set aside an area 

of our yard for milkweed, 

but to the monarchs,  it could be huge.

Creating habitat for the butterflies is easy, and my sister laughs when I tell her I'm planting

milkweed seeds.  They are considered 'weeds' in our home state of Iowa, and elsewhere, no doubt.

Being weeds, they have been sprayed without mercy in the ditches, leaving

our little butterfly friends with a loss of habitat.

So, what you need to do is......

Understand the life cycle of the butterfly and provide it habitat.

Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed.  Only milkweed.

That's all.  No milkweed, no monarchs. Game over.

 

  You should know what a milkweed plant looks like so you don't pull it 

out of the ground by mistake or spray it in your yard or ditch.

These plants 'bleed' white sap when injured or broken that looks like milk.

Right. Hence the name.

You need to know what a monarch butterfly caterpillar looks like, and not squish it.

Allow the pretty pink flowers to mature into pods.  Leave the pods on the plant to dry.

In the fall, the pods will dry and split.  The wind will catch the fine 'parachute' 

on the seeds and will disperse them.  You don't have to do anything but plant the first

few milkweed plants to get the patch started.  They will do the rest.

Gracie's Plant Works will have milkweed plants for sale this spring.

Psssst.  

Wanna know a secret?

If you say "AVATAR" at checkout, 

we'll give you a milkweed plant for free.

We really want to provide habitat for 

the monarchs in Ely and our surrounding area.

Don't forget the secret word this spring!

Happy Milkweed Planting,

Kathy and Patty