When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing how a butterfly can spot a single milkweed plant from the sky. She spotted a cluster of milkweed’s characteristic petite star-shaped flowers, perched on it, scratched it with her paws, and tasted it with her paw to confirm that it was indeed milkweed. Then she begins to lay eggs on the leaves, but only on the leaves of milkweed plants.
This is because monarch butterflies rely on plants for food, eating all the leaves along the way until metamorphosis is complete (a cycle that takes about four weeks). Unlike adult monarch butterflies (butterflies), caterpillars cannot just eat their favorite plants.
And that may make you wonder…
Why milkweed?
Perhaps this is by nature’s design. Chemical compounds in the plant make the caterpillars toxic to potential predators (such as birds), and the sap of certain species of milkweed is more toxic than others. (The toxic effect, a built-in defense mechanism, is also found in other striped caterpillars.)
However, this compound has no negative effect on the caterpillar itself. They feed, grow, and molt on the same milkweed plant for up to two weeks before pupating.
The striking appearance of butterflies and caterpillars also serves as a warning to predators that they are poisonous. Predators learn to associate colors and patterns with bad taste and generally avoid preying on monarchs altogether.
Related: How to identify green caterpillars in your garden
Unfortunately for the monarchs, milkweed populations are declining in the Midwest due to the use of herbicides in fields where it grows heavily between corn and soybean rows. It is no coincidence that common milkweed is so called because it is easily invasive as a weed. (Although it is an edible weed for humans.)
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Weeds you really want to eat
Milkweed isn’t the only edible weed. Your backyard should have a veritable buffet of wild salad greens that are not only nutritious but also delicious.
But habitat loss is only part of the problem. Climate change, drought and disease are also to blame. These are responsible not only for the extinction of milkweed, but also for the decline of other nectar sources for adult monarch butterflies (and butterflies of all kinds, for that matter).
Milkweed isn’t the only plant you need
If you want to support monarch butterflies, you obviously need to plant milkweed (unless you make the common mistakes with milkweed). However, you should also plant other nectar-rich flowers in your garden that bloom at different times to ensure adult monarch butterflies (and other pollinators) have a continuous food source.
After all, if they don’t have flowers to feed on themselves, they’re unlikely to stay on milkweed plants and lay eggs.
Colorful annuals like zinnias and phlox are attractive not only to butterflies, but also to a wide variety of bees, moths, and other beneficial insects, contributing to the overall health of your backyard ecosystem.
Equally important are perennials, especially native perennials such as echinacea and coreopsis, which provide a reliable food source from early summer to early fall.
You can also plant perennials that do double duty as food for the butterflies and food for themselves, such as flowering herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, and anise hyssop, to name a few of my favorites) or one of the many edible (and delicious!) flowers on this list.
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Flowers are an important part of my home garden, and I especially love the easy-to-grow pollinator plants below.
Read more: Make this easy hummingbird food recipe when flowers aren’t blooming
With a little strategic planting (of milkweed and other flowers), you can create a beautiful butterfly garden that benefits monarch butterflies and other butterflies.
