Advice from Garden Club R.F.D.
T
TheJournalNJ.com | APRIL 2021 17
natural areas. Their arrival in New Jersey is viewed by many people
as a sign of the change in seasons. You have probably read or heard
of their long-distance seasonal migration and spectacular gatherings in
Mexico and California. This population has recently declined to dangerously
low levels. Hundreds of millions of Monarchs used to make the
groves on the coast of California. The Xerces Society now tells us that only
a fraction of this population remains. An 80 percent decline was seen in
central Mexico with a 99 percent decline seen in coastal California.
With developments taking over natural landscapes, increased use of
herbicide and pesticide-intensive crops and climate change causing natural
disasters, a gardener can help to reverse the loss of habitat for Monarchs
by planting milkweed (asclepias). Milkweed is the only plant that
will sustain a Monarch through each of its life stages. It also produces a
chemical that makes Monarchs toxic and bitter-tasting to some of its predators.
Almost all Milkweed plants produce a white, sticky sap that oozes
when their stems or leaves are broken. That sap contains a semi-poisonous
compound that can be toxic to animals when consumed in large
quantities. This toxic compound is cardiac glycosides that can make birds
and other small species sick and possibly die. It is, however, this same sap
only eat the foliage of the milkweed plant, allowing them to survive. The
eggs on the milkweed plants, allowing the resulting caterpillars to safely
grow to maturity while there.
Monarch Joint Venture, a partnership of American federal, state and
other organizations, recommends the following milkweed species for the
Weed (A. tuberosa), Whorled (A. verticillata), and Poke (A. exaltata).
clusters and sweet fragrance will easily earn a place among your favor-
Swamp Milkweed are considered the best varieties as they spread gently.
Common Milkweed is more aggressive and spreads by underground
roots. Therefore, it is recommended that these are planted in gardens
where they will have space to naturalize or planted in peripheral areas of
the landscape where they can be free to spread.
the most: milkweed.
Garden Club R.F.D. is a member of the Garden Club of New Jersey,
the Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs, Inc., and the National
Garden Clubs, Inc. Meetings are held at the Little Red Schoolhouse on
Middletown Lincroft Road in Middletown. For more information, contact
Ruth Korn at ruthkorn77@gmail.com.
/TheJournalNJ.com
link