I saw this story and it's sad...not very surprising to me, however.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mo...

That is terribly sad.

I've gotten some native milkweed seeds for my area this year & will be planting that. I sure hope I can get all of the seeds to germinate. I was only allowed to purchase 1 pkg. of 10 seeds as they are in such short supply.
Of course, mine won't help the migrating monarchs as we are not on the migration route but they may decide to begin overwintering here close to the Gulf.

I have read often that the milkweed does best if you plant the seeds directly in the ground rather than raise them in pots & then plant in ground. What I've been reading says if you raise them in pots & then plant in ground, they usually don't make it through the first year enough for you to collect seeds from them. Any thoughts Linda?

I start some in pots to be planted in the ground later, but plant others directly in the ground. The Antelope Horns kind that is native here definitely does better planted directly in the ground, since they do the deep taproot.