As you probably know, monarch butterfly habitat has been shrinking across
North America, and the monarch population has also been dropping (likely
also due to pesticides and possibly to climate change). Would you like to
help by providing a pocket of habitat for these beautiful creatures (and
their adorable caterpillars)? I have lots of ripe milkweed pods to give
away.
Do you have some space in your garden? Is there an empty field or neglected
roadside near where you live, work or exercise? Planting milkweed will help
many different pollinator insects, especially monarch butterflies (who lay
eggs exclusively on these plants). You don't need a lot of space! The
monarch mamas seem to prefer to lay their eggs on smaller groupings of
milkweed plants, not big fields of it (which is a smart strategy to avoid
predators!)
Each milkweed seedpod contains ~200 seeds. (You can tear off the fluff for
more accurate seed placement.) Plant in the next couple of months, so the
seeds cold-stratify (that is, so they experience cold winter), and they
should sprout up in the spring. Or sprout them in early spring (you can
find out online)--you're likely to have even higher germination rates. I
have hundreds of ripe pods, and hope to give them all away! My plants are
common milkweed, Asclepius syriaca.
If you want some seeds, email me offline and I will tell you where to come
pick them up, or maybe even deliver them! I'm in North Framingham.
Lisa