How to Create Your Own Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop | National Geographic 

Here in Monterrey, Mexico, a lovely grandpa gives away 10,000 milkweed plants every year. He doesn’t ask for a single cent, but for us to take care of the plants, eggs, caterpillars and monarchs!

So last summer was the first summer that I planted my own large garden. And the #1 thing I wanted was sunflowers, so I planted a bunch. I didn’t realize how much monarch butterflies love sunflowers. I had hundreds of butterflies, drinking the nectar, caterpillars eating the leaves, and cocoons everywhere. It was amazing to show my 2 year all of these butterflies because I personally have not seen so many in one area since I myself was a very young child. I’m excited for next year, I purchased 2000 milkweed seeds for my butterflies for next year. It will be like walking into a wonderland next spring 💕💕 my next step is to help our honey bees. Make our world a better place for our children, it’s time to stop being such selfish people. By simply planting flowers you could change your whole environment. Not just for the animals, but you will be teaching your children very valuable life lessons. By helping others, you too are helping yourself

I began a native plant garden a couple years back, for the monarch, among many other creatures. A native garden supports all kinds of insects and animals. I highly recommend it. Beyond their importance, they also look great!

It is not just the commercial farmer that is at fault but the Home Owners Associations that do not allow wildflower patches and homeowners who need to have everything perfect in their landscape. If every subdivision would designate one lot or drainage ditch as do not mow wildlife habitat and allow the native wildflowers to grow unencumbered, Not just the milkweed but the thistles that the wrens and finches use for food and nesting materials, the long blooming flowers that the bees and hummer's need for food, the messy trees that drop nuts and things that the deer and wild turkeys feed on. The wet moist areas that grow bulrushes that the redwing blackbirds need for their nests, The standing dead treas that are in an area that will not harm anything as they slowly fall down for the woodpeckers and other hollow tree nesting birds and animals. The gardener that keeps out all wildlife from his/her garden instead of planting some for them. The person who mulches with rocks or bare dirt instead of live mulches that harbor insects and amphibians (away from the house) and their food sources. True nature is messy and it reuses everything it drops. The trees mine the minerals from deep and drop the leaves to refresh the topsoil. The litter on the forest floor keeps in moisture and harbors the fauna the plants need to survive. It is only when man intervenes that things go haywire. The grass lawns that we keep are a leftover from the palaces of England where a person showed wealth by how much of their land they could waste in green lawns for games and other pastimes. The commoners used every inch of their allotted land to grow food for the family (cottage Garden) The world worries about carbon release into the air The trees and plants will help that, especially if they are incorporated into the soil as mulch when they die or need to be trimmed down. Instead of bagging grass clippings and carting them off to the landfill Use them to mulch your beds and paths. or just mulch where it is. If you keep the thickness to about 2" at a time it will dry out turn silver or tan and decompose at a good rate the first 2" will take only 2 weeks after that it will decompose faster if there is moisture. After one summer the areas will be full of worms and insects to feed the birds. Enough of this for today

Because my home is a lakefront home in South Florida, there are many predators...frogs, birds & lizards. So instead of planting my milkweed, I keep them in pots. Once I see that the caterpillars have emerged, I transfer the pot indoors into a guest room. By doing this, I ensure that the caterpillars all have a fighting chance at survival. Since May, I've successfully released 56 butterflies. Due to a pre-planned trip to Bend, Oregon, I had to transfer 8 caterpillars and 59 chrysalises to Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, Florida where they will properly care for them. Once I return home, I'm sure I'll have new eggs on the potted milkweeds in my backyard and the entire process will begin again! :) I may however change things a bit and place the pots inside a secure mesh hamper outdoors and let nature take it's course. I know that while in the hamper, the frogs, lizards and birds will not be able to eat the caterpillars. I can still water the plants in the pots and I also have a plastic potting dish to capture the excess water. Once the caterpillar is ready to attach, it can make it's way up to the top of the mesh hamper to form it's "j" and the metamorphosis process will ultimately complete once the chrysalis forms and the butterfly emerges. Just love this journey I'm on and the end result...the monarch butterfly is worth the time I put into this process.

At the end of the Monarch season, early October, my wife and I released 210 Monarchs from our small suburban yard in NW Ohio. Really enjoyed this video!

You need at least 4-5 plants to start! They are hungry! But now I'm starting to feel motherly !

Naturally, milkweeds are vital as plants for the Monarchs to lay their eggs, as well as good nectar plants. Don't forget other sources of nectar though, I have good luck seeing Monarchs on: Anise Hyssop, Buddleia and Tithonia. These plants also serve well as food for various kinds of bees.

Thank you for the video. I'm 22 years old, I plant many plants to attract both bees and butterflys. I wasn't aware the monarchs were decreasing in numbers, this inspires me to keep doing what I'm doing, but also try to start raising them as well.

I just started germinating milkweed seeds for my backyard. I used to see them everywhere when I was a kid, so I know they migrate through here. I hope my little backyard will help. I’m also going to grow some for my neighbors and encourage them.

Make sure to plant local native species of milkweed. Check your local plant society or conservationists group if you want to find out which one to plant in your area.

Their life cycle is incredible

My monarch waystation number is in the 3000s. The current number of waystations is in the 35,000 range. Our raindrops are adding up!!! 😊

Yes!! I'm 63 and I remember the same article and was touched by the monarchs also! I love them!

I did the same this summer! I have planted so many plants this summer. I have at a time 5-7 monarch butterflies in my backyard.

Ive released over 200,000,000 monarchs or more since 1954

This is nice to see homeowners doing things for the monarch butterflies for I love them so keep it up!

I used to see them all the time but now they've literally been completely gone in NW PA. It's sad really there used to be tons. It hit me when I was at a football practice and saw one and a teammate named Jeb chased it down to watch it and he said "Those are like gone now" so now I'm gonna plant some milkweed.

I plan on planting a bunch of milkweed plants in my yard next spring. As a kid I used to see milkweed in the wild but to be honest, I have not seen a plant in years.

I can remember as a child in the 60's, my Gma lamenting that the farmers didn't leave the edges of their fields unplowed to keep the milkweed habitat there and saying we'd lose the Monarchs because of it. Any community can encourage their electric companies to plant milkweed/pollinator plants in their right-of-way zones. Boise, Idaho here doing my part.

I planted a patch of milkweed and butterfly weed in my yard last year. I also have a large variety of native pollinator plants. Everyone should have some in their yard. I also do not use any pesticides what so ever.

I think monarch butterflies and the caterpillars as well are amazing critters and monarch watch is just as amazing as the critters

Where's the "How to" part of "How to Create Your Own Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop..."

On my farmstead I keep patches of Milkweeds around even mowing around them to keep them alive. This year I have actually seen caterpillars on them. I've had plants for over 10 years now. It was the patch in the front yard that showed me it was working.

I just started my own butterfly garden. I have two Milkweed plants and plan to get more. If the human race die butterflies will survive, but if butterflies and other pollinators die then the human race dies as well.

As a kid. I think we had a bit of a cold winter rain, in Los Angeles county; on the old passion Fruit vine my grandfather had planted on the side of their house was just crazy covered with cocoons of monarchs... I'll never forget it because I don't remember seeing it again. Between 1965 and 69... it was amazing they were all over her yard not too far from the end of the Santa Fe trail...

it's easy to plant milkweed. just go to Walmart get a jiffy seeder green house box and seeds. follow directions and plant after a few weeks.

Bought 3 milkweed plants today from Home Depot hope to see some butterflies soon!

wow, nice wonderful video. i didn't realize how widespread they are. i just bought two milkweed plants yesterday and will get more varieties as the nursery gets them in. it is such an easy thing for me to do as they were in great numbers in our town, my garden is full of salvias and other nectar plants and i never realized i could be a monarch rancher and restock the supplies. looking forward to getting my first larva.

Thanks. Planning on creating a monarch habitat in my backyard

Thanks. I’m doing my part by creating a Monarch station in my yard.

Beautiful.Thankyou.

Means every body cant have a perfectly manicured. Yard. Its insane. There is hardly any wild places left no woods with blueberrys or wild strwberrys

Ma'am can I ask a permission to use your video in some portion where the monarch butterflies are flying? I will using it in my presentation on Tuesday Feb 26, 2018. Thank you so much.

I am planning to start an initiative to plant milkweed plants with 200 other volunteers in Toronto, Ontario. Do any of you have any suggestions, help, tips that can be helpful for me? A step by step guide as to what I can do will be really appreciated, thanks!

I've seen a lot of monarch butterflies around long beach california.

I would love to raise monarchs.. I never see them or milkweed in this part of Kentucky..

They are soo beautiful

I wish I could have that plants in Australia. Leaves is nice and big room for caterpillar. In Australia have native milkweeds but kinda different the leaves is tiny. I do breeds Monarch over many years.

I collect, raise, & release them every year. I'm going to build a small, walk-in enclosure. I befriend them, & my granddaughter helps me name, & release them. David was the last to fly away in October!

I’ve got 3 monarch caterpillars in my garden now munching away on milkweed. My question is do I need to put out something for them to cocoon on or will they take off and find their own spot?

love what they are doing here butterfly's should be everywhere worldwide!

And here we are in 2022 with the monarch butterfly officially declared as an endangered species, these people knew something years ago that our wildlife is under attack due to prolific pesticide use and loss of habitat!

Where can I buy Milkweed and other plants that attract them?

I am very amazed at all those beautiful butterflies. Nicole you look great in that hair style. At 0.22 where was that filmed please? ta blesses Arek

I have 126 seedlings so far. I might have to raise the caterpillars indoors though. Lots of birds and lizards in my yard :)

AWESOME, I LOVE NATURE and tha SCIENCE there of.

Am really tring to grow milkweed but my soil is to sandy even with potting mix What can I do to help it grow. Tankyou.

I have a Monarch visiting my Milkweed plant, I noticed that you took the caterpillar while on the leaves and separated it from the plant. Should I do that with mine. How long will it be before I see a caterpillar? I have two milkweed plants but it seems to prefer the pink and not the orange milkweed. Can you give me advice on what else I can plant that they like and do I need to put water near by. I noticed that Wasp and some kind of small bee looking insect also like the milkweed. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Follow Wahsi Squad on social media as we raise awareness about Monarch Butterflies! We are dedicated to raising awareness to local communities and schools about creating and designating Monarch butterfly habitats.

Please help me because I haven't seen any milkweed around here and would love to have some. I live in West Tennessee.

_The Monarch Will be Crowned_

Monarch butterflies are officially endangered as of July 2022... I am here looking for resources to teach my students about them. It is so sad to see how they've been warning us for years.. and how optimistic they were.

Does anyone realise she is wearing monarch butterfly earings

The US is not the only place Monarchs live. The fact that there's only 20 odd years worth of data supporting the alleged disappearance of the species is too little data on which to base any conclusions. Who knows if the starting count was routine, exceptional, lower than normal? We just don't know. But you can be assured of one thing: activists will ensure that the government will get involved to destroy property owners' rights to preserve a species that might well be on the way out anyway. And if it is, the government certainly won't give back the rights it claimed to preserve the animal. And if it isn't, the activists and government will surely claim it was their active intervention (read: appropriation of property-owners' rights) that saved the butterfly. Folks who are very passionate about nature and saving species frequently are the last people who nature and evolution to actually function in the way it traditionally does. I think the Monarch is pretty and iconic too. I have my milkweed patch to try to help, but we can't pick winners and losers in evolution and we do a damn poor job of it because we are too impatient to wait for data. We think "do something, even if it is ineffectual, disruptive of legal rights, or even perhaps ultimately harmful to the very thing we're trying to save." Adapt or die. That's the rule.

Had me look up "canary in the corn field".

Just make sure you have nectar flowers nearby for butterflies to feed on. Only caterpillars need Milkweed. Where I am, the milkweed doesn't always flower, but the Monarchs love the flowers and bushes we have and then move right beside and lay eggs on milkweed.

We are responsible... Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High school CA

I been raising monarch butterflies here in Hawaii. Never really gettired of it, its been 5 years. No luck with milkweed except i have huge trees of crown flower plants which are prolific here in Hawaii...they dont migrate. I wonder if they will migrate if mixed with mainland US monarch butterflies?

Please plant NATIVE milkweed to your ecosystem

We have some milkweed and the first year we got tons of caterpillars. Now after two consecutive seasons none. Why?

Absolutely NO INFORMATION On The "How", this video is nothing but the "What"?

florida friendly ;Landscaping

National Geographic sure is posting a fuck ton of videos today! #spammingtoday

Is there any reason the video doesn’t encourage the use of Native Milkweed?

i had a roundup commercial before this

Well it’s June 8 2021 and I’ve seen 0 butterflies yet. I think it’s this phone radiation. I’ve also seen about 15 flying insects !

"Canary in the cornfield"?

Anyone else here because of Donna Klein?

What. If. Get. Head. Wind

canary in the corn field? 😂...it's canary in the coal mine.

Nothing!! About how to plant a rest stop.. lieing title

Son tan brutos que siempre se les olvida que el idioma Español es la segunda lengua mas hablada del planeta ..Lo mas probable es que tampoco lo saben..Pongan subtítulos en Español en todos los vídeos.

What we really need to do is to end capitalism.

AYOOOO DID SHE SAY SHE waS TOUCHED WHEN SHE WAs A KID SHE WAs VIOLATED AYOOOOO

I have a pet butterfly her name is Sheema but I also have 4 cats so I don't let her out of her plastic see through box

SPAM

there not iconic in America they live in Hawaii, New Zealand and America

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