The Sept. 28 event will offer a milkweed plant sale, children’s educational activities and a monarch gardening workshop for adults.
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The Sept. 28 event will offer a milkweed plant sale, children’s educational activities and a monarch gardening workshop for adults.
“It’s absolutely not too late to plant,” says Ruth Gonzalez of Reems Creek Nursery in Weaverville.
“So viceroys aren’t a monarch imitator. Both butterflies co-evolved this feature of being unpalatable to birds.”
“Readers interested in monarchs and participating in citizen science programs should be aware that viceroys and monarchs occur in much of the same range, including Western North Carolina.”
“The otherwise lovely cover on the [Sept. 26] edition shows a viceroy butterfly, a great monarch imitator.”
Every fall, between late September and early October, monarch butterflies migrate from the Northeastern U.S. to Mexico, with many passing over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Although fewer monarchs are making the trip these days due to habitat loss and other factors, local monarch enthusiasts are working to study and protect their populations.
Nearly one billion monarch butterflies have vanished since 1990 due to habitat destruction, which impacts their primary food source, milkweed, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Efforts to protect monarch butterflies center on educating the public about the plight of the monarchs, as well as encouraging the creation of garden spaces that provide nectar plants […]
by Marcia Tate Master Gardeners in Haywood County are leading efforts to educate the public that monarchs butterflies are at high risk of being placed on the endangered species list. They are encouraging the public to plant milkweed in their gardens, as monarch caterpillars will only eat milkweed. Four of the Haywood gardeners created a […]
A student contribution from the Kids Issue.