Monarchs in the garden

We are always striving to encourage and increase biodiversity in the work that we do.  At our own home, we have been planting California native and drought tolerant plantings around the yard.  It has been a fun process to experiment with what does best in our particular microclimate.  We have also been watching an increase in bird and insect species all over the property as we increase habitat.  Our most exciting addition is monarch butterflies!  We sowed three species of native milkweeds (Asclepias eriocarpa, Asclepias fascicularis, and Asclepias speciosa) in our nursery and have planted a few around the yard.  Within a few months of plantings, we began seeing monarchs around the plants.  We currently have a plethora of caterpillars eating the plants!  Milkweeds are the required host plant for monarch butterflies and are essential to their survival.


To learn more about monarchs and milkweed:
http://www.xerces.org/milkweed/