Thanks for this article. Gratitude for everyone interested in creating pollinator-friendly gardens, as they are ultimately the most beautiful, natural, and surprisingly the simplest perennial gardens to maintain imaginable. We can all enjoy them while also playing a role in protecting our pollinators, upon which, (whom??), our very existence was made possible. Many beneficial insects are up to be next on the worldwide list of species considered to soon officially be extinct. This is the real case with the Monarch Butterflies. Along with the disappearing native bumblebees we could face times when we will not to be able to see much less be able to benefit from our pollinators, including local, native bumblebees, migrating butterflies, thousands of different kinds of bees, flies, wasps, even moths and bats. It is a fact that without the plants that have sustained these creatures since they first appeared on the earth they will disappear, become extinct by the hundreds of thousands due to the lack of those life-sustaining plants that once grew wild in the U. S. Their former homelands and countryside’s aren’t there when they return, as many have been replaced by development coast to coast, destroying the plants, waterways, yet leaving us in the unique position to possibly help restore hope through our 2020- 2021 victory gardens, container gardens, and deck or patio gardens...which is how I started growing plants. Our plants can make a difference. I have observed Monarch Butterflies over the past 3 years. They do depend on a specific yet available to us to plant and grow milkweed plant that comes in different varieties, one or more of which does grow in your local area. If interested through resources online or locally find and support your local nurseries that practice organic sustainable gardening/plantings and your state’s agricultural and home extension offices. You may also enjoy discovering JourneyNorth.com, a university and butterfly enthusiasts supported organization, that tracks, follows, and invites participation if you wish in the many signs in nature including the huge Eastern U. S./Mexico North American migration of the Monarch Butterflies between the two countries. We can contribute to helping sustain the migrating Monarchs’ by just starting and maintaining native milkweed. Our family has learned through observation and somewhat by default that Monarch Butterflies and many other varieties of stunning butterflies have been amazingly easy to attract here in the Piedmont of N. C., and have learned over the past few years that they love the same things that we do- beautiful, flowering, perennial native plants,(most importantly the one of a limited list of 1-2 Native Milkweed plants that sustain them for their entire lives, from the eggs they lay, through all stages/instars as caterpillars, until they eclose as adult butterflies. Naturally this also provides flowers and nectar along with all the other native wildflowers you plant that may return each spring and summer. Best to all, stay safe, enjoy life.
Thanks for this article. Gratitude for everyone interested in creating pollinator-friendly gardens, as they are ultimately the most beautiful, natural, and surprisingly the simplest perennial gardens to maintain imaginable. We can all enjoy them while also playing a role in protecting our pollinators, upon which, (whom??), our very existence was made possible. Many beneficial insects are up to be next on the worldwide list of species considered to soon officially be extinct. This is the real case with the Monarch Butterflies. Along with the disappearing native bumblebees we could face times when we will not to be able to see much less be able to benefit from our pollinators, including local, native bumblebees, migrating butterflies, thousands of different kinds of bees, flies, wasps, even moths and bats. It is a fact that without the plants that have sustained these creatures since they first appeared on the earth they will disappear, become extinct by the hundreds of thousands due to the lack of those life-sustaining plants that once grew wild in the U. S. Their former homelands and countryside’s aren’t there when they return, as many have been replaced by development coast to coast, destroying the plants, waterways, yet leaving us in the unique position to possibly help restore hope through our 2020- 2021 victory gardens, container gardens, and deck or patio gardens...which is how I started growing plants. Our plants can make a difference. I have observed Monarch Butterflies over the past 3 years. They do depend on a specific yet available to us to plant and grow milkweed plant that comes in different varieties, one or more of which does grow in your local area. If interested through resources online or locally find and support your local nurseries that practice organic sustainable gardening/plantings and your state’s agricultural and home extension offices. You may also enjoy discovering JourneyNorth.com, a university and butterfly enthusiasts supported organization, that tracks, follows, and invites participation if you wish in the many signs in nature including the huge Eastern U. S./Mexico North American migration of the Monarch Butterflies between the two countries. We can contribute to helping sustain the migrating Monarchs’ by just starting and maintaining native milkweed. Our family has learned through observation and somewhat by default that Monarch Butterflies and many other varieties of stunning butterflies have been amazingly easy to attract here in the Piedmont of N. C., and have learned over the past few years that they love the same things that we do- beautiful, flowering, perennial native plants,(most importantly the one of a limited list of 1-2 Native Milkweed plants that sustain them for their entire lives, from the eggs they lay, through all stages/instars as caterpillars, until they eclose as adult butterflies. Naturally this also provides flowers and nectar along with all the other native wildflowers you plant that may return each spring and summer. Best to all, stay safe, enjoy life.