Year of Milkweed

Why are we doing it?

Milk­weed illus­trates the close con­nec­tion between native plants and wildlife — monarch but­ter­fly cater­pil­lars have evolved to feed exclu­sive­ly on milk­weed leaves. With their strik­ing orange and black wings, East­ern mon­archs are abun­dant on Gov­er­nors Island dur­ing their migra­tion in late sum­mer and fall, but their pop­u­la­tions have been expe­ri­enc­ing sig­nif­i­cant decline through­out the Unit­ed States over the past sev­er­al years [link out to Xerx­es Soci­ety or sim­i­lar link instead of explain­ing it]. Inte­grat­ing this vol­ume of milk­weed plants into Gov­er­nors Island’s green spaces will allow mon­archs to safe­ly com­plete their life cycles while increas­ing native plant habi­tats for all Island wildlife. 

How can I get involved?

Join one of our upcom­ing com­mu­ni­ty events like nature walks, drop-in vol­un­teer projects, or insect light trap­ping. Click here for a full cal­en­dar. You can also vis­it the demon­stra­tion gar­den, open­ing Sum­mer 2024 in Liggett Ter­race, and take some time to learn about the rela­tion­ship between milk­weed and monarch but­ter­flies – here are some resources to get you started: 

• If You Plant Milk­weed, They Will Come. (And Not Just the But­ter­flies.) The New York Times
• Milk­weed — For More Than Monarch But­ter­flies, Unit­ed States Fish & Wildlife Service
  
• Bil­lions More Milk­weeds Need­ed to Restore Mon­archs, Unit­ed States Geo­log­i­cal Survey
• The Monarch But­ter­fly in North Amer­i­ca, Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Agriculture

But­ter­fly weed and swamp milk­weed pho­tos by Sar­ma Ozols.