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.