24Country Gardens Early Spring 2016

Written by Bailey McGrath

BREAKING GROUND

Save Our Monarchs TUCKED IN THE SUBURBS of Minneapolis, Ward Johnson’s gardens are abuzz with plants like swamp milkweed, black-eyed Susan, and catchfly. Here, butterflies find protected habitat to lay their eggs, caterpillars feed on milkweed, and honeybees are busy producing sweet nectar in their hives. Growing up raising monarchs and planting milkweed, Ward has a deep and abiding affection for butterflies. Which is why he and his wife, Ann, decided to move beyond their own backyard in their efforts to help our struggling monarch populations.

Ward discovered that much of the monarch decline in North America was caused by the destruction of native milkweed habitat—the only plant on which a monarch will lay its eggs and the monarch caterpillar’s only food source. Where milkweed once grew endlessly, it is now destroyed by herbicides and land development. With its loss of habitat, the monarch population has dropped as well, by more than 90 percent over the past 20 years.

People were already being educated on the issue, but Ward felt something more could be done. On March 3, 2014, he woke at 3 a.m. with a solution: start a foundation to give away milkweed seeds. The former chemical engineer, and now entrepreneur teamed with Ann and five other families to create the grassroots nonprofit Save Our Monarchs. In June 2014, Save Our Monarchs launched their website and started filling requests. Their motto: “No milkweed, no monarchs.”

A heap of milkweed seeds and packets covered the Johnsons’ kitchen table, and their home became a kaleidoscope of friends and volunteers racing to fill tens of thousands of seed packets. Ward even created an alliance with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, providing them with 20,000 seed packets their launch year.

Save Our Monarchs message has migrated across the country with the help of their many partners like Pheasants Forever, which shares a common goal—to restore wildlife habitat. Supporters of the program

Save Our PollinatorsPollinators like bees and butterflies are responsible for about one of every three bites of food you eat, but urban development and agricultural practices threaten their habitats. Taking action for all pollinators is just as important as the monarch efforts, Ward Johnson says. That’s why Save Our Monarchs partnered with Pheasants Forever to launch a new foundation called Save Our Pollinators in May 2015. With the help of Pete Berthelsen, Director of Habitat Partnerships at Pheasants Forever, a mixture of 26 pollinating grasses and wildflowers called “Pete’s Pollinator Mix” was created. Three milkweed varieties are included for the monarchs, plus plants like baby’s breath, California poppy, and blue flax to create a beautiful wildflower garden. Visit saveourpollinators.org to order packets and start planting.

MonarchLife CycleMonarchs have become an enduring symbol of transformation and hope. Imagine a tiny caterpillar that molts into an exquisite chrysalis and is reborn less than two weeks later as the most beautiful queen of them all. Here’s how the transformation takes place:

Immediately after hatching, a monarch caterpillar will be almost too tiny to see. By munching on milkweed leaves, it will grow to full size in just 10–14 days.

When a monarch caterpillar is 10–14 days old, it will stop eating and find a safe place to pupate, protected from rain, wind, and predators.

25Country Gardens Early Spring 2016

have not been hard to find. “Everybody that we meet has a monarch story to tell from their childhood,” Ward says. “Everybody loves the monarch.”

Save Our Monarchs not only distributes free swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) seeds but also educates the public on the issue. They do so by reaching out to garden clubs, potential partners, and schools to set up educational programs to demonstrate solutions and to help children understand the monarch’s biology. Tim Kenny, vice president of Educational Services at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, says the Save Our Monarchs seed packets are a great way to show people how to easy it is to take action. “When you can hand someone a seed packet and say, ‘You can be part of the solution. Here is a package of seeds—plant them,’ it’s such a simple message, yet it empowers people to be a part of the solution.”

Ward continues to appoint what he calls “monarch evangelists”. Evangelists head up efforts in their own cities: contacting organizations to

distribute seeds, setting up educational programs in schools, and placing distribution boxes in the checkout counters of local businesses so people have easy access to seed packets.

The organization is already growing faster than anticipated, Ward says. In 2014, it distributed 80,000 seed packets; a goal of distributing 350,000 packets was set in 2015—a number that was exceeded in just three months. Ward’s distribution goals are now in the millions (and with the seed-packing process now off his kitchen table, it’s possible). But Ward, Ann, and the rest of the team don’t just want the packets in people’s hands, they also want every seed planted. So they are out at state fairs and garden events encouraging people to take the seeds and plant them as soon as they get home.

While the monarch is a great pollinator, Ward’s motivation stems from the passion for butterflies his parents instilled in him. “To me,” Ward says, “the more emotional, more legacy-based goal is to provide them for my kids and grandkids.”

A new monarch breaks out from its chrysalis.

At first, a newly emerged monarch’s wings will be wrinkled and fragile. The butterfly must pump them full of fluid.

A monarch will stay in a chrysalis state for one to two weeks. When the chrysalis darkens and becomes transparent, the butterfly will soon be ready to come out.

After emergence, the monarch will have to dry its wings and prepare for flight.

Every year, a new generation of butterflies takes a 2,000-mile journey from Canada or the northern states to their overwintering grounds in the mountains of Mexico, where they find refuge nestled together on Oyamel fir trees.

Get Involved Kay MacNeil is nothing if not passionate about dwindling monarch populations. She is the Bee, Bird, and Butterfly Chairman of the Garden Club of Illinois, as well as the founder of the Garden Club’s Milkweed for Monarchs program (and she’s even been known to sport a pair of reticulated orange-and-black wings to a garden meetings). So it’s no surprise that when Ward Johnson heard about her efforts, he crowned her a “monarch evangelist”.

“There’s something about monarch butterflies that moves the human soul,” Kay says, noting countless stories shared with her about monarchs bringing hope during times of grief. In 2014, Kay was cultivating a plan of action to help the monarch, the Illinois state insect. Her program, Milkweed for Monarchs, encourages gardeners to plant more milkweed, collect seed, and share with others. Noticing how many people struggle to find milkweed seed and its expensive price tag (around $300 per pound), Kay searched for a way to package and give away seeds. That’s when she reached out to Save Our Monarchs. Its seed is now blowing all over Illinois. Kay has even worked with Illinois Highway Commissioners to promote roadside plantings. Her objective is simple: “Every monarch deserves a milkweed.”

There are a number of ways you can get involved and help restore butterfly habitat. Save Our Monarchs provides resources and information to become an evangelist in your area, start school programs and fund-raisers, or host a butterfly event. You can order seeds at saveourmonarchs.org.

For more information, see Resources on page 110.

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