Monarch Butterflies Eat and Thrive on Milkweed

Creating habitat for monarch butterflies, one garden at a time...

Plant Milkweed for the Monarch Butterfly

Butterfly Encounters is encouraging everyone to plant milkweed seeds for the monarch butterfly. The caterpillar stage of the monarch butterfly feeds on milkweed plants. As land is developed and milkweed populations diminish, the monarch butterflies habitat is lost. We can rebuild this habitat by planting milkweed seeds in our gardens. There are over 100 species of milkweed and we pride ourselves on offering as many species as possible.

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Tips for July

It's time to start thinking about the fall planting season. Many species of milkweed require cold moist stratification to trigger the seeds to germinate. The best approach for cold moist stratification is to plant the seeds outdoors in November or December. Read more about cold most stratification.

Swamp Milkweed and Spider Milkweed, as seen in the pictures to the left, are two milkweed species that require cold moist stratification. Browse our listing of available milkweed seeds to see which other species require this treatment. Be sure to get your seeds in time to plant outdoors for this upcoming November or December. That way you'll have milkweed sprouts for the spring generation of Monarch butterflies.

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