The Monarch Butterfly
The Monarch butterfly, also known as, Danaus plexippus, is an ongoing fascination of mine since I was a young child. My first memorable experience with monarch butterflies was at a girl scout campout as a young girl scout. I remember an enormous shade tree glittering and moving in the distance on a misty morning. The tree glittered and moved in the sunlight with monarch butterflies warming their wings. The orange and black markings serve as a striking contrast to the deep blue Texas sky. The ethereal memory seems more of a dream than a reality and includes a camp full of girl scouts with mouths agape with awe. Other friends on the campout speak of the spectacle in the same dreamy state as my memory from years ago.
Monarch butterflies face serious threat due to various factors such as environmental change and damage to overwintering sites in Mexico and California. Monarch butterflies rest and feed on milkweed on their long journey to Mexico each year. Milkweed is both a host plant for eggs and food for emerging larvae as well as a nectar plant for adult butterflies. The milkweed supply has been threatened by development in the butterfly’s annual migratory path. Monarchs lay their eggs on the milkweed plant during March and April. They face a lack of these and other nectar plants and host plants on their journey each year in addition to natural threats such as storms and temperature fluctuations. Each of these factors has contributed to the decline in the monarch population.
We can all help the monarch population by planting host plants and nectar plants such as milkweed, salvia, butterfly bush, purple mist flower and echinacea. Avoiding pesticides in the garden in extremely important in helping the butterfly population as well as other pollinators. A longer list of beneficial monarch plants can be found here.http://pollinator.org/PDFs/MonarchGardenPlants.pdf