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Articles for Native Milkweed

Monarch butterflies appear to be everywhere these days. Is the crisis over?
1 year, 1 month ago

Monarch butterflies appear to be everywhere these days. Is the crisis over?

LA Times  

The anecdotes abound this year — friends reporting magical clusters of monarch butterflies on their walks, dozens of organizations offering free giveaways of native milkweed and projects to restore habitat, even a lone monarch gracefully fluttering outside my window AS I’M WRITING THESE WORDS. But that’s still around 90% below the historic norms seen in the 1980s, Pelton says, when …

California Numbers Western Los Angeles Plant Butterflies Los Angeles Times
Her stylish gardens are filled with native plants. Come visit one in South L.A.
2 years, 9 months ago

Her stylish gardens are filled with native plants. Come visit one in South L.A.

LA Times  

This is the latest in a series we call Plant PPL, where we interview people of color in the plant world. Brandy Williams’ business is landscape design, but it’s more accurate to think of her as an artist who paints for pollinators, primarily with succulents and what she calls “California friendly” plants. Brandy Williams’ garden is a dense mix of …

Plants Mediterranean California South Los Angeles Los Angeles
He spends his days counting monarch butterflies in L.A. He could use your help
2 years, 11 months ago

He spends his days counting monarch butterflies in L.A. He could use your help

LA Times  

It’s 49 degrees in Malibu, practically freezing for Angelenos, and Richard Rachman is peering through a chain-link fence trying to find butterflies. “While climate change-driven severe drought is associated with declines in butterfly abundance and diversity in the West overall, the effects are complex; warmer and drier summers — like 2021 — can be a temporary boon to some butterfly …

Plants West California Angeles Help Eastern Butterflies
Monarch butterfly fans are clamoring for native milkweed. Here are 8 places to buy it
3 years, 8 months ago

Monarch butterfly fans are clamoring for native milkweed. Here are 8 places to buy it

LA Times  

Butterfly fans, take a breath. I know it’s officially spring and we’re all pounding on nursery doors, anxious to plant some California native milkweed to help the endangered Western monarch butterfly stay afloat since, yes, milkweed is the only thing its caterpillars will eat and nonnative varieties appear to be hastening its demise. Native milkweeds — especially narrow-leaf milkweed, the …

Plants Coastal Areas Butterfly California Western Help Southern
6 ways Californians can help save the iconic monarch butterfly
3 years, 10 months ago

6 ways Californians can help save the iconic monarch butterfly

LA Times  

There 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 …

Plants Tropical Butterfly California Western Help Plant