- August 18, 2012 - Insectarium : Education
You don’t have to get out the silverware and fine china, just arrange your garden to attract the king of butterflies, the best known of all the world’s lepidoptera: the monarch!
With its magnificent black-streaked orange wings and elegant gliding flight, the monarch is easy to recognize. In fact, it’s the first butterfly, if not the only one, that Quebecers can name when asked. That’s also because the monarch is one of the biggest butterflies in Québec and patrols our fields and roadsides in large numbers. But it so happens that for a number of years, and for many reasons, the populations of this impressive migrator have been in decline. So if we could hold out a helping hand to make the monarch’s life easier? Come on: it’s within everyone’s reach, and you’ll be the first to benefit.
Provide the monarchs with room and board
With shovel and trowel in hand, the work begins. Here’s some advice for turning your balcony or grounds into a monarch haven.
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Pick an area sheltered from the wind, or else create a windscreen with plants or other materials.
- Make sure this little monarch paradise gets lots of sun.
- Plant different flowers known to produce nectar. Native plants are perfect (eupatorium, goldenrod, asters, purple coneflower …). Consult the TOP 10 plants for monarchs and see to it that there are successive blooms throughout the summer season.
- Provide the monarchs with one or more milkweeds. Québec is home to a few native species, the most common of which are Asclepias syriaca and Asclepias incarnata. You can also get tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), a plant you can bring indoors at the end of the season
Monarchs normally arrive in Québec in June. They’re looking for nectar, which gives them the energy needed for breeding, and for milkweed to lay their eggs on. Think how delighted you’d be to realize that they’ve chosen your particular layout to make a brief stopover! And if a lot of you out there do some gardening for monarchs, maybe we’ll see more and more of them as years go by. Likewise for the other pollinators that benefit from your good care: sometimes all it takes is a few simple gestures to give nature a helping hand.
For further information, visit the Insectarium to learn more about pollinators…and monarchs!
