Monarch Numbers Lowest in Recorded History

I hate to get on my butterfly soapbox again but I’m worried. For the very first time in my life a summer is passing me by with not one single Monarch sighting in my garden. This is for real. They used to be ordinary, taken for granted and so was milkweed. I loved breaking the pods open and watching the silky, seed parachutes sail away. I can’t remember the last time I saw one in a ditch.

Asclepias tuberosa

For years now milkweed, the only species of plant Monarch caterpillars can feed on, was aggressively treated with pesticides, a practice made easier by Round Up Ready corn and soybeans. Farmers who used to set land aside under the Federal Conservation Reserve Program are taking their land out of the program to cash in on the market for ethanol. Today the amount of land set aside in the CRP program is the lowest since 1988.

Asclepias 'Hello Yellow'

According to Donald Davis, chair of the Monarch Butterfly Fund, the number of Monarchs that overwintered in Mexico last year was about 60 million, down from an average of 350 million. That is a whopping 80%. I have no doubt that droughts last summer and a cool spring this year have also taken their toll on butterfly populations but we need to help them bounce back. I have lots of milkweed in the garden but I’ll be buying more that’s for sure. Are you with me?

Bringing Life to your Garden

Have fun out there, 

Peggy Anne