COLUMN: Monarchs and milkweeds

   You may have heard this year that monarch butterflies are now classified as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

   For many this came as no surprise.  Insect populations have been in a steady decline across the globe. Unfortunately, it’s a harbinger of what might be to come for many more species. But did you know that all of us including you can do something quite simple to help wildlife in our own neighborhoods? Something as easy as planting native! For Monarch butterflies, planting and growing native milkweeds for their caterpillars to eat and flowers for adult monarch butterflies to drink nectar from is vital.

   Many people are aware of the amazing journey monarchs take each fall as they travel from the Midwest to their overwintering sites in Mexico. You probably know that monarchs drink nectar from flowers and search them out along their migration route. But do you know that monarch butterflies would cease to exist without milkweed plants?

   Throughout North America there are approximately 110 species of plants in the Asclepias genus, known for their milky sap or latex contained in their leaves. There are 17 species of milkweed that grow in Iowa.

   Common milkweed is by far the most abundant and noticeable due to its ability to grow in disturbed areas. Its bright pink flowers clustered together in a globular sphere make it easy to spot in summer while in bloom.

   In fall, these plants become highly visible yet again when their once-beautiful flowers are transformed into large seed pods bursting open, exposing flattened seeds attached to smooth white fluff waiting to be dispersed on the winds.

   Female monarch butterflies will only lay their eggs on plants in the milkweed family. Scientists believe by using chemoreceptors on her legs and antennae a female monarch is able to identify those milkweed plants onto which she will lay her eggs. A single female monarch butterfly can lay up to 700 eggs. To maximize the survival of her offspring she spreads her eggs out among many milkweed plants.

   If you have milkweed in your yard, protect and care for it. Monarch eggs are tiny, dome-shaped and only about as big as the head of a pin. The eggs can be hard to spot and look like a small yellowish white cone with lines running from where they are attached to the plant to the tip of the cone. Females generally attach each egg to the underside of the milkweed leaf. These tiny caterpillars can be hard to spot but grow rapidly until they transform into the emerald, green-camouflaged chrysalis. Milkweed plants are essential to their survival. In all, in less than a month a brand-new monarch butterfly will take flight – a truly miraculous and wondrous miracle of nature that we can all observe firsthand in our own backyard.

   Although fall marks the monarch migration. don’t be too quick to cut down or clean up your milkweed plants! Eggs laid by female monarchs in late August and September will be part of the migrating population of our planet’s monarchs. If all goes right, monarch eggs will hatch within 3-5 days. Tiny newly-hatched caterpillars will get busy eating and growing, rapidly transforming into chrysalises within two weeks’ time and emerging magically as adult monarch butterflies within another two weeks. Some will not complete their transformation until the first part of October. The success and continuation of the entire monarch population is hinged on this population’s survival.

   To learn more about milkweed plant species that you can incorporate into your landscaping go to www.MonarchWatch.org. Several species grow well in east central Iowa, including the beautiful orange colored butterfly milkweed, small white whorled milkweed, and damp soil loving deep pink swamp milkweed.

   Join Jones County Conservation Department staff for September monarch tagging events on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3, and 4; and Wednesday afternoons on Sept 7, 14, and 21 at the Central Park Nature Center. These come-and-go events run from 1 to 5 p.m.

   Learn more about the Monarch butterfly and help scientists by helping to capture, tag, and release migrating monarch butterflies. For more information on this event visit https://www.jonescountyiowa.gov/conservation/.