Save the Monarch Butterfly

30 May Save the Monarch Butterfly

Growing Swan Plants helps the Monarch Butterfly. ONLY 17 BEAUTIFUL PLANTS AVAILABLE

The Monarch butterfly caterpillar can only eat plants in the Milkweed family and one of these that grows quite large so provides plenty of food and is easily cultivated and very ornamental in appearance is the Swan Plant.

Monarch‘s need all the help we can give them because although they were once a common site in America, and flocked in their millions to their winter roosts down south, their numbers have been declining rapidly due to habitat destruction, lack of Milkweed food plants and insecticides.

Monarch females have to search for plants to lay their eggs on and if there is a shortage of Milkweed in an area they are stuck.

This also means that if they do locate plants they tend to lay too many eggs on these plants because they have no option. When the caterpillars hatch out the plants are unable to provide enough leaves and this can mean that all the larvae will die from starvation.

Monarch caterpillars will eat all parts of the plant including the thinner stalks and the seeds and seed pods. I found this out on a plant I had that I was hoping to get some seeds from but the hungry caterpillars got there first and I couldn’t let them starve.