plant milkweed to save the monarch butterfly
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/monarchs-fight-for-their-lives.htmlMonarchs Fight for Their Lives
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One recent study suggests that the long-term survival of the species may be in doubt. A few weeks ago, one of the scientists devoted to studying monarchs, Ernest Williams at Hamilton College, summarized for me the threats that have been reported in recent studies.
Nearly every link in the monarchs’ chain of being, he said, is at risk. Illegal logging in Mexico has reduced their winter habitat — an already vanishingly small area, which is itself being altered by the warming climate. Ecotourists who come to witness the congregation of so many butterflies disturb the creatures they have come to see. But perhaps most damaging is the demise of milkweed.
Monarchs have the misfortune to rely exclusively on a plant that farmers all across the Midwest and Northeast consider a weed. There is a direct parallel between the demise of milkweeds — killed by the herbicide glyphosate, which is sprayed by the millions of gallons on fields where genetically modified crops are growing — and the steady drop in monarch numbers.
To anyone who has grown up in the Midwest, the result seems very strange. After decades of trying to eradicate milkweed, gardeners are being encouraged to plant it in their gardens, and townships and counties are being asked to let it thrive in the roadside ditches. What looks like agricultural success, purging bean and corn fields of milkweed (among other weeds), turns out to be butterfly disaster. This is the great puzzle of species conservation — it has to be effective at nearly every stage of a species’ life cycle. And this, too, is the dilemma of human behavior. We live in a world of unintended consequences of our own making, which can never be easily undone.
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not a gardner. 
We have a 20 foot square patch of milkweed in our front yard. My husband planted it right by the curb and I bitched about it for about 3 years. We have a regular lawn and--milkweed! I relented last year and we had a bumper crop, so in our experience it takes about 3 to 5 years to really establish. As far as soil, ours is very poor and clay based. We put no pesticides or any kind of feed on it (for 27 years). We don't water. When it gets hot and dry here in Wisconsin at the end of July and all of August, we let the grass go dormant. So clearly Milkweed requires nothing special and is drought-hardy.
This year it was beautiful and full of bees! I have several species of bees in the yard now including straight up honey bees. We had Monarchs this year too and people were coming by and talking to us about it and how wonderful they thought it was. I of course had to eat crow (as my husband gloated). We're on a corner of a cul-de-sac with the Milkweed in front and the main sidewalk running along one side of our house. I have a huge perennial flower garden on the side of our house facing the sidewalk. This summer when I was working my garden, almost everyone who stopped to comment were commenting on the Milkweed! LOL!
Not everyone was happy. We were reported to the City this year (bumper crop) and someone came by to tell us and write us a citation. The man asked if we planted them and if so, why. My husband said for the butterflies. From that moment on the City worker referred to the Milkweed as our "butterfly garden." He asked us to do something to make it look "planned." We encircled it with bullet bricks and we were told that there would be no citation for weeds since it was now clearly a beautiful butterfly garden!
I hope this helps.
There's always at least one moaning Minnie.
I've got loads of Buddleia about and so get inundated with butterflies. What I like is that you can walk up to them real close and they don't fly away.
I'm so inspired by your actions, I'm going to plant a milkweed butterfly garden too!
I've checked it out and we can buy it here where its also called silkweed.
I asked about soil types because I know that some of our species here are reliant on plants which only grow on chalky soil. One them is so rare its only only found in one tiny place which just happens to be a military firing range. 
And the blooms were beautiful.
a monarch sanctuary in Mexico, and a few years ago I made it (I don't know about private sanctuaries but this one is strictly regulated and protected; we weren't allowed anywhere near the trees).
I have a yard full of milkweed (the orange one) which was difficult to establish, but doing beautifully now. I hope many others will do the same, but it infuriates me that this comes as a surprise. Birders have known for years that modern agriculture has been a disaster for wild species. They utilize every square foot of ag land, not even leaving a hedgerow or fence line to break up the poisoned monoculture fields....why should butterflies be different?
and used to have my pastures filled with visiting monarchs in the summer when I moved here 10 years ago.
They've dropped way off in the last 10 years. I don't get any now.
It's really a very pretty plant; the butterflies are even prettier.
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I've just ordered mine from them. 
that is in bloom, about done, that was covered with honey bees a couple weeks ago when it first bloomed and when I googled milkweed just now that is what it is. HOORAY I'm helping the Monarchs.
I'll do some more searches to see if indeed this is milkweed.
Our grand daughter loves her some butter flies of any color, it matters not to her.
It takes a minimum of 60 days for seeds to have a plant large enough to support a caterpillars' food needs. You can raise our tropical Milkweed in pots inside your home or greenhouse, and it should survive the winter. If you live in a northern climate and see snow, then request the Speciosia variety of milkweed seed, as it survives the winter's cold. - LiveMonarch.com
Fall migration
Spring migration
Generation 1 monarchs are the offspring of the monarchs who overwintered in Mexico. Each successive generation travels farther north. It will take 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States and Canada.- USDA.GOV
You can either buy already established plants or you can order seeds and plugs. See excerpt links for costs and contact information. You'll want to plant native milkweed species for your region of the country (USA & Canada), the USDA has six regions for the U.S. alone.
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Our mission is milkweed restoration and to that end we only ship plants to ecological regions from which the seeds were obtained. This project has been supported by a large number of volunteers who have supplied seeds of many milkweed species from most areas of the country. - Monarchwatch.org
Milkweed Plants
We have listed milkweed species, for each region
of the U.S., that we know are both valuable to
monarchs and easy to establish. While any of
these will work well in garden settings, for larger
restorations please use species that are native in
your county, and plant materials sourced as
locally as possible. You can find this information,
together with a directory of native plant vendors
that we know sell milkweed plants and / or seeds,
on our website:
www.plantmilkweed.org ==> redirect to http://monarchjointventure.org - USDA PDF
Milkweed information sheet (PDF) - MonarchJointVenture.org
Take action to Grow Milkweed Plants (find your milkweed species) - clickable U.S. map
Retails (U.S. & Canada), 248 listed. MonarchWatch.org
Click on this picture for a link to find your state and milkweed species.
For More Information,
Please Contact:
Priya Shahani, Ph.D.
National Program Coordinator
Monarch Joint Venture
Saint Paul, MN
(Actual contact ==> lower right of USDA PDF)
www.monarchjointventure.org
