I think I saw the same article, SSG!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02...

I hope that greater awareness continues to make a difference for all our pollinators.

Sally he purposelessly leaves the milkweed grow, as well as most of the raspberries and blackberries. We're trying to get other friendly plants established like iron weed and butterfly weed. Many of the trees he's planted are also good for pollinators and birds. He wants a habitat like we have without the martin and ground hogs of coarse.

From Journey North
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/...

Good News from Mexico
The number of monarchs overwintering in Mexico has increased dramatically from the record lows of the past 3 years, though the population remains 32% below the historic average. The clustering butterflies cover 4.01 hectares of forest compared to a peak of 18 hectares in 1996 and an average of 6 acres. This year's population contains 200 million monarchs compared to a long-term average of 300 million and a peak of 1 billion. Favorable breeding conditions in summer 2015 are credited for the substantial increase.

Conservation Goal
The target for monarch recovery is a sustained population of 6 hectares, a level high enough so that the population's natural yearly fluctuations don't drop below an extinction threshold.

That is good news.

I think I have become more and more concerned because of reports about of how illegal pot growers over using pesticides, rodentcides and fertilizers are impacting not only the environment, but also various species of insects, birds, fish and animals. To be blunt, it is making me a bit crazy.

http://www.motherjones.com/env...

I know .. it's a long article, but worth reading ... especially if you live up here.

aw, gee. I thought illegal pot growers were all just old earth-loving ecology minded hippies...I'll read that (later)

Sally you're thinking of the kind of people who say things like "Peace" and best of all "here".
Not the criminal minds of today, gun totin' , strictly for profit thugs, viciously protecting there cash crop, many times on public land.

I read and watched the videos. Wow, that's sad and shocking.
Gee, I thought someone said pot is harmless and non addictive. That's an amazing industry for a non addictive substance.
In this context, maybe I see legalization as an improvement. If people insist on having it, it should not be full of chemicals (smoking organic pesticides, anyone) and should not be a crop for profit out of our federal lands.

and it STINKS I am so glad I don't live near anyone with a grow. YUK !

Catmint20906 said:http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/monarch-butterfly-migration-rebounds-easing-some-fears/ar-BBq5Nce?li=BBnb7Kz
"After years of being ravaged by severe weather and shrinking habitats, the monarch butterflies hibernating in the Mexican mountains rebounded last year, kindling cautious hope that one of the insect world’s most captivating migrations may yet survive.
The World Wildlife Fund said at a news conference here on Friday that the orange-and-black butterflies, which fly more than 2,500 miles each year from Canada and the United States to a cluster of mountain forests in Mexico, covered about 10 acres this winter, an area more than three times as large as the space they covered last year."

Yay!!

That really is truly wonderful.

Lookie here!
One of my 3 pots of rooted Tropical MW cuttings from last summer has bloom buds on it.
YEAHHH! Hope for the future..... Gita

Hooray for the good Monarch news!
This butterfly chat reminded me to dribble a few drops of water on the paper towel covering Black Swallowtail chrysalises in a container in my fridge.
I'm not sure when to put them in my unheated garage...now that I've cared for them for this long, I would hate for them to emerge before there are flowers for them.

Wow Gita they look great. I just moved one of my pots of trop MW to the light shelf. Two other pots had aphids yet again but a spray with alcohol/water mix seems to have nailed those bugs good.
fingers crossed, Muddy

For those of you raising tropical milkweed you might find this of interest: http://monarchjointventure.org...

GTK David.

Good information. I 'think' I am safe because mine fully dies back, and the plants I have indoors are not exposed to live butterflies or larvae between October and whenever they return to me, usually late summer. Maybe it would be even safer to grow new plants from seed each year?
But it's a good reminder that our feeble attempts to help nature may have unintended consequences.

Any introduced species can go awry. Why else would they try and build a rabbit proof fence across Australia? Consequences of accidental introduction can be grave, American Chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, and Ash borers, to name but a few in the plant world.

Maryland gardeners, our General Assembly is considering a specialty license plate titled "Celebrating Maryland Native Plants and Pollinators." Revenue from the plate would fund our extension service.


http://extension.umd.edu/hgic/...

Awesome

This is such an interesting article! http://www.ecolandscaping.org/...

The trial gardens at Mt Cuba in Delaware studied how pollinators responded to straight native species vs cultivars of phlox. Surprisingly, certain cultivars like Jeana were more popular than the species, but other cultivars were not as popular.

I'm so glad I got Jeana at the last group buy! It really is a butterfly magnet.