The Garden Buzz is on spring break, first stop, The University of Missouri, Journalism School. Apparently my daughter thinks it would be fun to have "take your mom to class" day. I'll be attending Egyptian Art this morning, but she 's on her own with that magazine editing test later in the day.
Tomorrow we head to Florida. Not for one of those wild and crazy breaks, sorry to disappoint you. We thought we'd check on the grandparents and it's just a coincidence they live close to the beach.
While I'm gone consider this; the Monarch Butterfly never gets a break. Add extreme weather and flooding to the usual challenges of long migrations and habitat loss. Storms in the overwintering region of Mexico decimated the Monarch population, according to Chip Taylor of the University of Kansas Monarch Watch program. It will take several years to rebound after 50% losses.
So now is time to plant milkweed. Monarch butterflies depend upon milkweed and only milkweed as a larval host plant. After they are adults they feed on a variety of flowers, but without the milkweed that won't happen. First things first.
Think about planting at least 10 plants of one species and get your garden certified through Monarch Watch as a Monarch Waystation.
There's a milkweed for every garden; Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) comes in orange or white, once established it is drought-tolerant; it can take clay soils as well. Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) is a pretty pink and tolerates wet soils, but grows in average soil too.
The list goes on, but hey, I'm on vacation. Do a little research and see how you make a difference for the Monarch.
