Monarchs on the Move

Posted in Wildlife on September 22 2010, by Plant Talk

Butterflies Migrate Through the Garden on Way to Mexico

Dorrie Rosen and Anita Finkle-Guerrero are Plant Information Specialists at The New York Botanical Garden.

The annual celebrated journey of monarch butterflies is now under way. Perhaps you’ve already seen individual monarchs floating past as they head south to their winter home in Mexico on one of the most unique migrations in the natural world—a round-trip that spans three or four generations of monarchs. Each fall these beautiful black-and-orange creatures migrate to a relatively small geographic area in central Mexico where they huddle in masses on trees to conserve heat and be protected from buffeting winds and rains.

Severe weather in Mexico last winter—drought, wind, and mudslides, which took down trees—as well as continual illegal logging, land development, and pesticide use have negatively impacted the monarch population.

Home gardeners can help monarchs by creating conditions necessary for their survival throughout their life cycle: providing food (planting their favorite plants), water, and shelter for both larval and adult stages.

To view some of the plants at the Botanical Garden that the monarch feeds on, visit the Home Gardening Center, the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, and other living collections within our 250-acre landscape. Milkweed is the preferred host plant for monarch caterpillars and can be seen in the Children’s Adventure Garden. Also look there for other butterfly favorites: goldenrod, Joe-pye weed, and sedum. We saw monarchs on butterfly bush, lantana, sedum, and zinnia in the Home Gardening Center.