Hosting Monarch Butterflies in Your Yard

The choices that we make on a daily basis can have a profound effect on our environment. Recently, my mom hired a landscape architect to spruce-up a very drab side yard and turn it into a relaxing garden. She wanted to replace a patch of sod with an eclectic mix of stone, bark, flowering plants, a fountain, a decorative bench and a rocking chair. These are the things one would expect to find in a quaint little Italian style garden.

Just before the side yard was magically transformed into a beautiful oasis, the landscape architect told my mom that she was going to plant a few milkweed plants at no charge. My first thought to this was, “Really, shouldn’t she get rid of those nasty weeds? Farmers spray to eradicate this plant and now she wants it in my yard.”   

As a biologist, I know that milkweed is the host plant for Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus). They eat the plant and sequester cardenolides, a type of steroid that makes the Monarch Butterfly toxic. In the 10-years that I have lived in my house, I have only seen one or two Monarch Butterflies. It’s not like I have a flock of butterflies that will devour these plants, I doubted that the butterflies would even find the plants. So, I guess a few milkweed plants in the side yard wouldn’t be that bad after all.   

While I was away on a field trip, the landscape crew came and transformed the side yard into a beautiful Italian style garden. I spotted a couple of milkweed plants nicely tucked away in the side yard at very inconspicuous pockets. I told myself that I can live with these around my yard. I barely noticed them until I spotted others scattered throughout my property. Not only did they put them in my side yard, but now I have them everywhere!    

I started to feel irritated at that point. It was nice when I had a few hidden milkweed plants in a side yard, which I would probably never see. But since they are now everywhere, all I could think of saying was, “Thanks for the free weeds.”