Monarchs Need Milkweed
- Mary Byers
- Jun 13, 2017
- 3 min read
Monarchs need milkweed!
Milkweed is the only plant that a female monarch will lay her eggs on and it is the only plant that the monarch larva, or caterpillar eats. The adult monarch drinks nectar from other flowers. So, if you want to invited butterflies into your yard or garden, it is important to have both milkweed and a variety of other flowers that will bloom from summer to autumn.
Milkweed is a very important to the survival of Monarchs. Due to land management practices, milkweed has been much diminished, thus creating a loss of habitat for the Monarch. It is called milkweed because of its milky white milky white sap. This sap contains toxins, (cardio glycocides), that make monarchs taste bad to birds and other predators. It is also not good for people or animals to eat.
There are eight species of milkweed that are native to Montana. The most common species in Ravalli County is Showy Milkweed, or Asclepias Speciosa. You can find showy milkweed growing along roadsides on the East side, near open farmland. It has gray green hairy leaves, a cluster of fragrant piniksh white flowers, and in the fall, it develops long seed pods that contain flat brown seeds attached to white fluff that help the the seeds catch the wind and disperse it to new soil. It also repoduces by rhizomes, or underground stems that spread from the main plant.
Milkweed can take over a garden bed, where it will compete with other plants. It is best planted where it can be naturalized. Another species of milkweed in Montana is Asclepias Incarnata, or Swamp Milkweed. It grows in moist sunny areas. It has bright green leaves, and a cluster of small pink flowers. It is not as aggressive in its growing habits as showy milkweed, so it is a better choice for an irrigated lawn or garden.
If you want to encourage monarch butterflies to visit your garden, it is also important to have nectar flowers for adult butterflies. A variety of flowers that bloom from summer to mid autumn alongside milkweed will insure food for the butterfly once it has hatched. Included is a short list of flowers that butterflies use for nectar.
Larva plants for Monarchs:
• Asclepias speciosa (Showy milkweed) Once established, showy milkweed does not need much care. However, it reproduces by rhizomes, and can take over a garden plot.
• Asclepias Incarnata (Swamp milkweed) Needs moist soil to survive, but not as aggressive as showy milkweed.
• Asclepias Tuberosa (Orange Butterfly Weed) Easy to grow, but can be susceptible to aphids.
Other asclepias species found in Montana:
• Asclepias fascicularis (Narrow Leaf Milkweed)
• Asclepias ovalifolia (Oval leaf milkweed)
• Asclepias stenophylla (Slimleaf Milkweed)
• Asclepias Syriaca (Common Milkweed)
• Asclepias Verticillata (Whorled milkweed)
• Asclepias Viridiflora (Green milkweed)
Online resources for Milkweed seed: Prairie Moon Nursery, Americanmeadows.com.
Online resources for Milkweed plants: Great Bear Natives.
Nectar plants for butterflies (grown at Great Bear):
• Liatris Punctata (Gay feather)
• Echinecia Purpurea (Purple Cone flower)
• Gailardia Aristata (Blanketflower)
• Ericameria Nauseosus (Rabbitbrush) *Blooms in Autumn •Eriogonum Umbelatum (Sulfur Buckwheat)
• Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow)
• Monarda Fistulosa (Bee Balm, Wild Bergamot)
• Erigeron Speciosus (Fleabane)
• Erigeron Linearis (Desert yellow daisy)
• Sambucus Cerulia (Elderberry)
• Prunus Virginiana (Chokecherry)
**Any flowering plant that grows in an umbrel, or cluster of flowers that a butterfly can land on)
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