As spring approaches, planting season gets underway. Prior to moving into our current home a few years ago, I did not know a lot about planting flowers, let alone the various benefits that might come with planting one type of flower over another other than color and size. That changed about two years ago when I became involved in a native plant giveaway sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation at my local church. I brought home a milkweed and several other native plants, and with very little care other than regular watering, these plants grew substantially over the summer. The milkweed, for example, produced over 100 purple flowers from one stem by late summer and fall. This one stem multiplied into 13 large stems the following spring, which I would estimate produced over 500 flowers.
Milkweed is a great native plant not only due to the fact that it is easy to grow and maintain (i.e., you just need to water it regularly and, but also because monarch and other types of butterflies are highly dependent on it as a source of food and as a place on which to lay their eggs during their long migrations. Did you know that it takes 4 generations of monarch butterflies in order to complete a full migration from central Mexico to their summer breeding range in the northern US and back to Mexico? Sustaining so many monarchs during this migration requires much milkweed and other native flowering plants. Both urban and agricultural land development have led to substantial losses of the habitat that supports these plants, resulting in an approximate 90% drop in monarch populations since the 1990s. Please watch the following video for more details regarding monarch migrations and issues related to their demise.
Objective
During the months of April and May there tend to be various native plant giveaways, which often include milkweed. Please try to take advantage of at least one giveaway or support a local nursery through the purchase of native plants such as milkweed.
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