More Milkweed, More Monarchs

Anna Kormis

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/monarch-butterflies-mexico/

Monarch butterflies are well known members of the butterfly family. They
grab your attention by fluttering their infamous orange, white and black wings.
They migrate in swarms of orange and black across the country. Unfortunately,
they are declining rapidly and are in trouble of becoming endangered, but you can
do something to bring them back.
Milkweed, Aclepias, is a plant that is well known for its heavy involvement in
the monarch butterfly life cycle; it is a monarchs main source of food.
Unfortunately, it has decreased significantly due to suburbanization and genetically

modified organisms (GMOs). In order to help the monarch butterflies, which depend
on milkweed, it needs to be planted in bulk in order for it to repopulate. Once
milkweed is repopulated, then the monarch butterflies will repopulate as well.

What Can You Do?

To help the monarch butterflies repopulate and enjoy their presence in your
garden, you could plant milkweed. Milkweed is simple to grow and care for. Some
varieties of milkweed that are available in garden centers in Virginia are butterfly
weed (Asclepias tuberose) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate). Milkweed
can grow up to six feet tall. Planting milkweed in your garden will draw the
monarchs to your house. This would be assisting in their migration across the
country. The butterflies will stop by your garden to eat the milkweed like a rest stop
on the way to their destination.

What Can Virginia Do?

Helping monarch butterflies should not be done by just individuals. The state
of Virginia can help them in a larger amount. The best place to grow milkweed for
species are along road sides. This way the milkweed can be planted in bulk and go
on for miles. The best places in Virginia for this are interstate 81, route 11, route
66, and route 64. Road ways are the perfect places for milkweed because they go
on for miles and the plants can assist organisms in their migrations. Butterflies
have a long way to travel during their migration. Planting milkweed along roadsides
will help increase the number of monarch butterflies that make the journey because
there will be more places for them to stop and refuel.

Milkweed=Monarchs
Milkweed is well known for being an important part of a monarch butterflys
life cycle. Environmentalists are petitioning to get the monarch butterfly onto the
endangered species list. To help repopulate the monarchs, more milkweeds can be
planted. The more milkweed there is, the more butterflies will be around. You can
help save the monarch butterflies from being endangered by planting milkweed in
your garden and getting the state of Virginia to plant it along major road ways.

References
Common Milkweed. Study of Northern Virginia Ecology. Fcps.edu.
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/common_milkweed.htm. 2014.
Create Habitat for Monarchs. Monarch Joint Venture.
http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/create-habitat-for-monarchs/. 2013.
Milkweed. Bring Back the Monarchs. Monarchwatch.org.
http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed. 2014.
Milkweed Introduction. Monarch Watch. Monarchwatch.org.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/. 2014.
Growing Milkweed for Monarchs. Stewardship Garden. Ourhabitatgarden.org.
http://www.ourhabitatgarden.org/creatures/milkweed-growing.html. 2014.
The Butterfly Society of Virginia. Butterflysocietyofva.org.
http://butterflysocietyofva.org/growing_milkweed.html.2008.
Conniff, Richard. Environmentalists Petition to Put the Monarch Butterfly on the
Endangered Species List as Its Population Plummets. TakePart.com.
http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/08/27/how-long-can-monarch-butterflysurvive-big-agriculture. 2014.