“Time to Help the Monarchs”

Notice from Monarch Watch. The milkweeds are ready to ship.

I began the process of acquiring milkweeds early in 2019 as the Oklahoma Master Naturalist representative. Thirty-two Asclepias tuberosa plants (Orange butterflyweed), 50 Asclepias verticillata (Whorled milkweed) and 64 Asclepias viridis (Green milkweed) were ordered from Monarch Watch. The milkweed restoration program is about creating quality habitat for the Monarch butterfly. Monarch Watch was supplying free milkweeds (shipping and handling extra) as part of a grant award. This fit my non-existent budget of the Shawnee Japanese Peace Garden )JPG) just fine. Two growers of native milkweeds were close: Baldwin City, KS and Georgetown, TX. For other regions, milkweeds were being cultivated in Groveland, FL, Encinitas, CA, and Brodhead, WI. No doubt our milkweeds would come from either Kansas or Texas.

The invoice and planting directions were included in the information. Eight weeks after the milkweeds discover they were not in Kansas (or Texas) anymore, a follow-up survey was to be completed.

The little milkweeds were destined for the Deep Fork Audubon Native plant area of the JPG. Oklahoma Baptist University students and volunteers had been lined up to help. I soon received a ‘heads-up’ notification saying there was a delay in milkweed development. Cool wet weather was playing havoc with the milkweeds. The next message stated the nursery milkweeds were not ready to ship this spring. Plan for possible fall shipment. That didn’t pan out either.

The milkweeds are now being prepped to travel to Shawnee to arrive early May of 2020. My volunteer team is gone, currently sheltering-in-place somewhere. Nevertheless, life goes on and the plants are coming. The new Native Plant Arc, also in the JPG, will join the Deep Fork Native Plant area, making available two sites for the milkweeds.

A new set of milkweed planting instructions states DO NOT THROW AWAY PLANTS WITH APHIDS OR NO LEAVES. THIS IS NORMAL. Got it. When the milkweeds appear, they should each be given a drink, but not planted. They need a few days R&R and be in the best health possible. The soil in both native gardens is composed of heavy dense clay. What lies within the soil who knows, but pools of oil, asphalt, concrete and other unique things have been uncovered throughout the JPG. In a previous life the grounds were an abandoned Naval Training Airfield that had been leveled with fill. Never was it properly prepared as a garden. Pretty terrible earth for delicate, maintenance-demanding big box store pansies, but these native plants might consider it a challenge and rise to the occasion. Green milkweeds have volunteered in the Deep Fork Audubon plot. Maybe they know something we don’t. The airport and entire Japanese Garden are located right underneath the main Monarch migratory route.

Milkweeds require full sun and most prefer well-drained soils. We’ll overlook this. The plant hole needs to be only slightly larger than the pot. Use a trowel or plug bar. Plug bar? When I googled plug bar, I discovered an assortment of power strips, surge protectors, an array of juice bars and something called the Dibble bar, a long metal rod with a T-handle at one end and a mini-shovel/spike at the other. Yes, the Dibble bar would be a great tool to use in the JPG. Or an auger. Or sticks of dynamite.

Toss in a little compost or slow-release plant food into the hole, position crown of plant at ground level and cover with soil. Tamp. Water. Mulch, but don’t use wood chips. Darn it. That’s the only mulch I have at the JPG.

Plant the milkweeds in clusters of 3 to 4 of one species and space the plugs 12 inches apart. Intersperse with the natives. A Monarch habitat is not complete unless it also has nectar sources for the adults: coneflowers, asters, sunflowers, native cranesbill, asters, blazing stars, compass plants, ironweeds and several species of goldenrods.

We are so set for goldenrods. The entire arc of the new native plant site is lined with goldenrods transplanted from the Native Plant Garden in downtown Shawnee and the Pottawatomie County Extension Butterfly Garden. Last year the goldenrods planted by Sister City student delegates were pulled out days later by an overzealous weeder who knew nothing about native plants. By the time the deed had been discovered, it was too late to transplant other goldenrods.

The JPG soil has a notorious reputation for being more than difficult, but this is a worthy cause. 2019-2020 numbers of overwintering Monarchs in the forests of central Mexico dropped to 53% of the numbers the previous year.

The green milkweeds around my home started to bloom May 3rd. I watched as one ragged Monarch, probably from Mexico, flitted from one plant to another looking either for nectar or the right plant to lay her eggs. Monarch survival depends on us.

Director of Monarch Watch Dr. Chip Taylor, Kansas Biological Survey, writes the Monarch Watch Blog. Learn what’s happening at: https://monarchwatch.org/blog/

We do not know when the milkweed will arrive, but when they do help will be needed. Let us know if you might be interested in planting the milkweed. Think service hours.