Long live the Monarchy!
The Laguna Foundation is growing milkweed as part of a program to increase the population of Monarch butterflies
Monarch butterflies aren’t picky eaters—but they are picky breeders, preferring to lay their eggs, as any school child knows, on milkweed. Narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) is a particular favorite, and that’s why Ayla Mills, the Native Plant Nursery manager for the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, has been carefully nurturing thousands of narrow leaf milkweed plants in the foundation’s Native Plant Nursery.
The Laguna Foundation has a partnership with the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District, which got funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Board to expand monarch butterfly habitat in Sonoma County and beyond.
“At the Laguna Foundation, it’s our job to grow the milkweed, and then it's Gold Ridge’s job to distribute it to local farms, local school gardens, parks and open spaces in Sonoma County to try to increase the milkweed populations in these places, so that more monarchs will come and visit and increase their population, which has unfortunately been in decline.”
The Monarch project began last year, and thus far the Laguna Foundation has grown over 6,000 milkweed plants to give away.
As often happens when you plant milkweed, you soon have Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars and chrysalises, and ultimately Monarch butterflies. And that’s exactly what’s happened in the greenhouse where the milkweed is growing.
“We've been getting a lot of monarchs in the nursery,” Mills said, “Like there was one point where every single time I would walk back here to look at the milkweed, there'd be a Monarch laying eggs. And so we've had over 30 caterpillars. At this point, there are so many, I’ve actually lost count.”
“It's just amazing to watch the whole cycle because they start out as these little tiny eggs and then the little tiny caterpillar that doesn't even look striped when it first comes out—it looks like just a little gray worm—then it eats the egg when it comes out because that's its first source of nutrients.”
“And then it just starts going through its different molts — the correct term is instars,” she said. “It goes through several instars and then whenever it's ready to make a chrysalis, it makes a little web and then hangs upside down on a plant … or even an irrigation line.”
The caterpillar then curls into a J-shape for 14 hours. “It loses its antenna and then it straightens itself out and then in one hour, it becomes a chrysalis,” Mills said.
She said it takes about 10 to 14 days for the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis.
Milkweed is also home to other types of insects.
“There's a lot of organisms that use it,” she said. “There's a lot of different butterflies, like Painted Lady butterflies. I've noticed some of those smaller silvery blue butterflies on the flowers and then a whole variety of bees.”
“It's just been magical to watch this whole process,” she said.
Want to see this process for yourself? Plant some narrow leaf milkweed in your garden.
“If you grow it, they will come,” Mills said.
You can buy some of the Laguna Foundation’s narrow leaf milkweed and other pollinator-friendly plants at their California Native Plants Sale and Open House on Saturday, Oct. 14, 10 am to 1 pm, at 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa.
Good article and great photos with one problem: does Asclepia require irrigation to make it through our summers?
I ❣️adore asclepias❣️Several strains in our habitat gardens. They add texture, color, vital food and cover. They reseed and spread through runners. Brilliant orange + yellow blooms or silky pink among many choices. We also have pipe vine to attract Louise Hallberg's magnificent obsession. Flowers, pods equally compelling. Then the butterflies emerge. 😊 Grateful for all that thrives here.