Monarch butterflies
 

Not too many years ago we were blessed with a billions of Monarch Butterflies. That number has now dwindled to only 10% of that number. The decline is mainly the result of the milkweed habitat loss that is so essential to these particular butterflies.. Would it not be wonderful if the Developer took on a project to plant milkweed in all of the set aside wilderness areas ? I wonder to whom and how one would propose this Monarch saving project. These plants have a very attractive bloom and are no real cost.

Warren, I share your love of the motives and I'm going to post photos how beautifully and perfectly they thrived in my yard, A one-year-old habitat. I spent weeks raising 6 dozen or so last year.
The first thing to know is to plant milkweed. It's great if you can find native milkweed but if not, lowes and hd sell tropical milkweed and the monarchs thrive on it.

This video is a larvae going to chrysalis. I learned what I know by farming them and the weeks raising them is among the most wonderful events of my life. Oops video will not load...

Anywhere I can purchase milkweed by golf cart? Will it also grow in Virginia?

i have found various kinds of milkweed seeds can be purchased on the internet. It is my understanding that at one time milkweed plants were abundent in most of america. Most were eradicated by farmers who considered the milkweed plants as noxious weeds and killed them out with sprays. There always seems to be a downside when we destroy any part of mother nature.

How about encouraging readers to plant it. Here are some pictures.

milkweed - Bing Images

homeowners can easily plant some wilkweed in the backyard. most people have some landscaping around the house or the screen room or some trees. Milkweed grows very easily. Don't spray it with bug spray! Don't let your landscapers spray it with anything! cut it down in the wintertime and it will grow back from the roots or seeds every year.

The Villages has thousands of acres of set aside idle land. Wouldn't this be a great project for someone like a boy scout wanting to earn his Eagle Rank ?? And think what an impact this would have in just a few years. I have been trying to make contact with someone in a leadership position of a local Boy Scout Troop. It is my understanding that planting the seeds is very simple. I don't think finding funds to purchase the seeds would be a problem, after all we are THE Villages !!!!

Hand raising monarchs

I agree that it would be a great project. But to say TV has that much "idle land" is not exactly true.

If you're speaking of preservation land, it is habitat, with specific dedications, and considered environmentally sensitive. Doing anything at all would involve permits or modification to existing permits, not typically a simple task.

I have seen the Monarchs migration couple times hedging for Mexico. 10s of thousands flying over my house at all levels of elevations. Very impressive. Lots of land lost to farming also.

When back home couple years ago and 90% of timber land when I was teenager was deforested for farming Grain. When mowing land in parks, preserves, or road ways kills lot of there habits. Some States don't mow road rightways after April till fall for this reason.

Monarch Watch Here is a great site that is involved in saving the monarchs. It is through the University of Kansas so I'm sure it is quite legit. I
ordered 32 milkweed plants (not seed) for $66. and am anxiously awaiting their arrival. If these are too many plants for you perhaps some can share an order. It is an awesome undertaking and if enough are planted in The Villages the preserves will probably at some point have its own population growing through birds or the wind carrying seed.

There is a Butterfly Gardens Club that will meet March 20th from 1:30 to 3:30 at Fish Hawk Rec Center. They always have plants for sale and you can order plants from them. We would be glad to have you join us! My husband and I new to this hobby and the
people at this club are very helpful. Hope to see you there!

SookeyJo, thanks for this info. I put it on my TalkingReminder to come to the club. We would like to encourage monarchs in our yard. We had many up in Michigan because there was so much milkweed growing in the dunes. Hope to see you there.

I will buy 2 plants from you when they arrive! Nelson

Warren, thank you for posting this string. It's important to help Mother Nature keep all things bright and beautiful. Hope to see you at Sea Hawk on the 20th.

I raised monarchs last year and learned there are 5 generations annually. The photo is the last 15 days of sightings reported on this excellent site:

Monarch Butterfly Migration and Overwintering

One butterly wil lay up to 200 eggs on the underside of the leaves. She flits about in a lovely dance and has just begun what will be the decimation of your plant's leaves.
Point is you must plant a mass of milkweed if your bush is young in order to support their eating. Larvae aka cats, eat constantly as long as there is a bit of light.

That said, anyone reading this can get help raising butterflies from the bfly club or master gardeners. The cats can be rehomed if you run out of food, which is very common.
:boom:
The leaf tips start to grow back and boom, a new girl lays, and here comes the next generation, laying on the tips of an otherwise decimated plant! Now you need help....

You can get seeds for free at:

Free Milkweed Seeds & contributions for Live Monarch Foundation- Get your milkweed for the Monarch Migration

They say they send 15 or so. More than enough for a TV backyard.

Here is a way to start plants from cuttings
 

...
Grow From Cuttings - Monarch Butterfly Milkweed

Hi Scookey
Please ask the Butterfly Club what they think about tropical milkweed.
It is not native and that some scientists say that growing it in border states can disrupt the monarch migration.

I can answer based on UF research...
The bottom line is that Any milkweeD is better than no milkweed.
Given the state of declining populations, UF would have you plant tropical if you are unabe to locate native milkweed.

The research is not clear, but indicates a possibility that non native milkweed dies back late and may encourage butterflies to stay here onstead of migrating.

Their recommendation for those who plant tropicals is to cut them back after the fifth generation larvae are raised...here in TV that would be about September.

I have two natives species and the tropical. My heart breaks when there is no food, so I am growing extra milkweed in the lanai to save for the later generations.

This article by a well-known lepidopterist at UF, Andrei Sourakov, also reknowned for photography, was revised dec 2014 to include current research results, and makes no mention of problems related to tropical milkweed.
EENY-442/IN780: Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae)

My yard is highly landscaped. My wife thinks me planting weeds in her beautiful yard is so wrong. So I have ordered the tropical seeds off of Ebay. I have been planting the local type in my fishing spots. The farmers might not like that.

For those who dislike the look of temporary naked milkweed "sticks" in their garden after the caterpillars have stripped the leaves, consider planting a low growing groundcover beneath.

In my case, this was an unplanned but pleasing consequence of planting a low growing coleus - "Indian Frills" - near the milkweed. The coleus branches touching the ground rooted, eventually covering the ground beneath the milkweed. I see small pots of this coleus currently available at Lowe's.

Depending on the sun/shade situation of the milkweed, there are quite a few plants to consider - portulaca, silver dichondra, tiny zinnias, etc.

In the attached picture you can see the coleus in the lower right beginning to fill in below the milkweed.

Your yard looks beautiful from photos I've seen of it on TOTV. Maybe Debbie wouldn't mind if you planted milkweed in containers. That's what I plan to do. I have an empty container or two, as you probably know...

I have a nice pond to the side of my home in Virginia. I will check this out and order if they think this is the right location. I have 3 nice butterfly bushes on the bay side. Thank you for the information.

Wonderful !!!! This is exactly what I had in mind. How could this not work ???

Raised by hand due to milkweed shortage aug 7.
Try to keep newer plants going thru the stripping by earlier generations.

What a great project. Thanks for sharing your photos Kitty! Beautiful!

And Juneroses, the bed looks very nice with the variety of plants you have in it. Very well planned.

Kitty - what a darling little snake you have in the front right corner of the picture you posted!

Warren - I was providing this information for folks in TV interested in purchasing milkweed plants. I live in North Georgia so try as we might I don't think any of my seed will make it back to TV, but I'm sure others will be happy to take up the cause.

The incredible journey of the Butterflies
 

NOVA
The secret world of the Monarch butterfly.

If you get the NOVA channel in TV , on Friday up here this program is playing.
It is from 2009. I think you will like it.

Saw that cisco. It is an ecstasy of mystery how such Creatures are made.

The larvae need to crawl down a stripped stem andback up back up another some will get climb down the pot. Will they find another pot? I do not know. Could you put the pots underground so the cats have a natural surface? 🌷🌸💐

I love this. Up north, we had courses on how to plant things in your yard to help butterflies and birds instead of putting in designer shrubs. The gardens were beautiful and rewarding.

i just saw an advertisement for a shrub and plant festival at the wildwood community center. They will be selling butterfly plants. THE FESTIVAL IS SCHEDULED FOR THIS SATURDAY.