6 ways Californians can help save the iconic monarch butterfly
LA TimesThere are plenty of easy ways for you to help the fragile monarch butterfly colony. Here’s why: Monarch caterpillars eat only one plant — milkweed — and many Californians have planted the showy tropical milkweed to help. The problem is that tropical milkweed doesn’t die back during the winter in temperate climates like Southern California’s, according to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. In other words, those evergreen tropical milkweed do more harm than good in Southern California, says Ron Vanderhoff, general manager of Roger’s Gardens nursery in Corona del Mar. Don’t use pesticides or herbicides Milkweed used to grow wild in agricultural areas or alongside roads, but the use of herbicides to kill weeds has destroyed much of the monarch’s food source, said Longcore.
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