Pretty plant! I’ll add that to my list of look-for this spring
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Drumpf the Butterfly Stomper hates monarch butterflies because of course he does.
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/660671247/butterfly-preserve-on-the-border-threatened-by-trumps-wall
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We have monarchs in Hawaii. They like the crown flower, which looks like (and is in the same family as) a giant milkweed and is used in lei. Our neighbor’s bush has been munched to hell by the caterpillars.
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We have a perennial hibiscus that blooms pretty late, but I’ve never seen any (looks it up) lepidopterans among the blooms, only Apidae. We also have an “encore” azalea that blooms in the fall, but I think it was after I’d seen any monarchs.
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This one was covered in monarchs this past year:
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=coco13
It was thought to be related to Ageratina havenensis (Zone 8) but now is called Conoclinium coelestinum (Zone 5-10!) and does not grow as tall. I may have it backwards, where the Ageratina got a name change. IANABotanist.
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=j870
ETA: botanical names, sheesh
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I’m saving that (EDIT: the blue mistflower) to a list for later, but I did note this:
In some areas of the U.S., the species is considered to be a spreading weed.
We’re surrounded by woods and this might be frowned upon… The surface is already overrun with stiltgrass.
https://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/milkweed-regions-seed-needs/
There are 73 species of native milkweeds in the United States. Many of these species are rare, threatened, and endangered. Monarchs utilize about 30 of these species as host plants with some regularity.
Not all milkweeds–and especially the natives–can be considered invasive, invasive exotics, aggressive colonizers, etc. IANAB but if I had to make a pitch, it would be to find out which milkweeds are native to your area, and see if there is some scrap of ground that can be made a sanctuary for those native milkweeds, because chances are there are or were native fauna that relied on that native flora as a host plant.
In Texas, we have ongoing battles with imported nonnative plants and insects (fire ants, a buncha mosquitoes and wasps, the Asian Citrus Psyllid that is killing off our fruit trees in the valley). Star Thistle–JFC the spines on that thing are as bad as cactus.
https://texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=CESO3
Johnsongrass is one of my pet peeves: “Johnsongrass is considered one of the 10 most noxious weeds in the world.” Strangely, the deer eat it, it’s toxic, and they don’t die AFAICT.
https://texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=SOHA
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I should have clarified, my concern was about the blue mistflower; I hadn’t thought about milkweed being invasive but I figure there’s a reason it has “-weed” in its name.
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I really just want to put out yard signs that say: “Monarchs Eat for Free”.
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And we’ll give them a run for their money. The rats and cockroaches of course.
I was thinking that Monarch-mimics like the Viceroy butterfly would eventually be in trouble if the Monarch was gone, but it turns out that it tastes nasty to predators too.
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Wow! Now I need to go pester my friend in the nursery business here. This would be terrible news. Their nursery planted zillions of flats of it over the years. Eeeeek.
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Charlie Brown or maybe Sally said; “Butterflies are free. What does this mean? This means you can have as many of them as you want.”
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My brother raises Monarchs in New Zealand. He says there’s been a huge drop in numbers there also. Hearsay, I know, but I trust him & you can research it if you need to.
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wasps love to eat caterpillars, put a net over the plants till they pupate.
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Don’t worry about it too much - IIRC, most milkweeds are pioneer plants, meaning they like to grow in disturbed soil and don’t do all that well in undisturbed areas. So it’s unlikely that they will spread from your garden to your woods. (It has “weed” in its name because it loves to grow in gardens or farm fields where we have nicely turned the soil over for it).
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This! Girlchild is fascinated by Monarchs, and we raised and released maybe 30 or so last year.
We’ve got milkweeds outside, and my suggestions would be as follows:
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pick the pods as soon as you see them, or everyone will have milkweeds on the first windy day.
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As soon as you can see them, gently remove the monarch larvae from the outdoor plants, and transfer to an indoor terrarium, where you can feed them picked leaves shoved into those flower “spike” watering things. That way, predatory wasps don’t wreak havoc on your very vulnerable larvae.
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make sure you’ve got some humidity, so the butterflies can leave their chrysalises successfully, and expand their wings properly.
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Check with your local ag extension and native plant nurseries. Your state may also have a list of the worst offenders for invasive plants. If you have something equivalent to the Lady Bird Wildflower Center, a botanical garden or research group, they would know if its invasive and alternatives that are native.
Yeah, and all the local home improvement stores stock lots of them! Ugh. My pet peeve is golden bamboo.
Native plant society, TX parks and wildlife, and lady bird wildflower center say its native to TX, particularly to east TX and hill country. I’d consider those pretty reliable. Apparently it does spread pretty quickly but has a shallow root system, so it’s fairly easy to control. Not like the zombie of all plants, Chinese wisteria. I don’t think the nursery has anything to worry about.
We had several monarchs visit our dandelions, of all things. It might have been an eat-dandys-or-starve thing though. We’ve only been in the house a few months and it’s still all stupid grass.
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At least their will always be cockroaches.
I’ve helped the kiddo hatch a handful of caterpillars. I think both times they ended up being Leopard moths. Maybe this spring we will find some more.
I found her a tiny little inch worm last fall, but we put him outside.
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