![]() If we can't manage those small strips for wildlife rearing, what hope do we have in the monoculture fields beyond them? I recently drove from the arrowhead of Minnesota to Des Moines, along the so-called I-35 Monarch Highway. Climate change is increasing occurrences of drought along the Mississippi flyway that stretches from Mexico to Canada, and it’s decimating fir trees in the overwintering grounds of the oyamel forest of central Mexico while also creating a risk of exposure to freak storms that bring cold rains and snows. Monarchs need MASSIVE systemic change to our society and culture at breakneck speed, not a "plant more milkweed" panacea that makes us feel better for a moment, but doesn't really practically address issues that will make a lasting difference for monarchs and so much more. Monarchs also, most importantly above all else, need an end to burning fossil fuels as well as big agriculture as it's implemented now. Monarchs and milkweed need a plant community to thrive - especially over vast stretches of a landscape, well more than a city can provide. Milkweed, like most plants, did not evolve to grow by itself. My concern is folks will rush to plant milkweed and, like so many other of their garden plants, maroon them in a sea of wood mulch with plants spaced far apart. And besides, there are many insect species at greater risk than monarchs, but we aren't planting for them. Health and life is more than one genus of plants. And they need other interactions that occur in a dense, layered native plant community interactions involving other species, interactions in the soil, interactions among the plants. Monarchs need an entire native plant community - host plants AND nectar plants. Telling folks to go get some milkweed for their small foundation bed is like telling folks to get some wheat bread crust for dinner. I don't see it as a baby step or gateway, I see it as a sleight of hand. Recent significant declines in monarch butterfly populations in North America are believed by many experts to be related to a corresponding significant decline in milkweed plants which in large part has been caused by an increased use of glyphosate herbicides around food crop areas where glyphosate-tolerant (Roundup Ready) crops are being grown.The call to plant milkweed - while easily sharable and actionable - is greatly reductionist and oversimplified. ![]() The adult butterfly eventually migrates into Mexico for winter. Flower nectar is consumed by adult butterflies as a valuable food source. Mature caterpillars next spin a chrysalis which hangs on a milkweed stem until it later emerges, through the miracle of metamorphosis, as an adult butterfly. Caterpillars hatch from the eggs and consume the milkweed plant foliage as food for growth and development. from Mexico in spring to lay their eggs on milkweed species plants. It should be noted that the monarch butterfly, possibly the best known butterfly in North America, needs milkweed plants in order to survive. Common names are in reference to plant size and typical habitat. Genus name honors the Greek god Asklepios the god of medicine. Tall green milkweed is distinguished from many of the other species of milkweed by its narrow alternate leaves, greenish-white flower umbels, absence of horns in the flower hoods, and its very floriferous bloom. Flowers are followed by smooth narrow seedpods (4-5” long) which split open when ripe to release numerous silky-tailed seeds for dispersal by the wind. ![]() The reflexed 5-lobed corolla curves backward and downward toward the center of the umbel, displaying the 5 hoods which are in general a key diagnostic feature of milkweed family plants. Each individual flower has 5 sepals (lobed calyx), 5 petals (lobed corolla), and 5 upright cup-like hoods (horns absent). Rounded, almost spherical, 2-inch diameter umbels, each containing 30-100 tiny, purple-tinged-greenish-white flowers (to 1/8” across), develop in the middle to upper leaf axils in late June-August. Most milkweed plants ( Asclepias genus) are noted for their unique and complicated flower structure, the thick milky juice which oozes from broken stems and leaves, their long pointed seedpods, and the almost magnetic attractiveness of their flowers to visiting butterflies and moths.Īlternate leaves (to 2-6” long) of tall green milkweed (most milkweed species have opposite leaves) have a very narrow-linear to linear-lanceolate shape. This is an uncommon species that is native to upland prairies, rocky glades, sandy wetland margins, roadsides, pastures and abandoned fields from Ontario and Minnesota south to Kansas, Louisiana and Georgia. Asclepias hirtella, commonly known as tall green milkweed or prairie milkweed, is an upright herbaceous perennial that typically grows to 3’ tall on one or more unbranched stems.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |