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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Milkweed in support of Monarch Butterflies

Milkweed in Shoreline Community Garden
After multiple attempts planting seeds and pods shipped to us from the midwest from the Monarch Butterfly Association and other locales, Twin Ponds Community Garden has finally been successful in establishing a decent patch of milkweed. 

This project has been six years in the making and only became successful after securing seeds from Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, a testament to using native seeds accustomed to the Pacific NW climate.

Establishing a milkweed garden supports the life cycle of monarch butterflies. Our patch is small but thriving and we hope it makes a difference in our complicated world.

--Susan Westphal, Twin Ponds Volunteer Coordinator
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM

    Monach butterflies are not native to this region, but many other butterflies are. We might also want to focus on native plants that support our native species. Thanks.

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  2. AnonymousJune 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM

    Native Lupine (among many others) is a really great plant for our native and local butterflies since Monarchs do not come to the Puget Sound Area to lay eggs. They do visit eastern/central Washington but not this side of the mountains. It is my hope that people focus on our native and local species that are diminishing as much as Monarchs but are not as “pretty”.
    Milkweed is not a plant that benefits our local species, watch it as it grows and note how many butterflies visit.

    ReplyDelete

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