How can I help?
At the SBG, we work hard to maintain our beautiful gardens as a habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. But you don’t have to have a huge garden to help!
It could be as simple as adding native milkweed to your existing garden. Milkweed is the monarch’s host plant: the only plant the caterpillar can eat, and the only place a monarch will lay her eggs. It’s also a good source of nectar, as are other fall-bloomers such as native asters and goldenrod. These late-summer beauties provide much-needed fuel for monarchs as they move south to Mexico, and help other pollinators make a healthy transition to winter.
For more ideas about how to create habitat for monarchs and other pollinators, visit our website: snetsingerbutterflygarden.org
Author: Lisa Schneider
​Photo credit: Pam Ford

Imagine setting out on a 3,000 mile journey to a place you’ve never been before. You’ve got no vehicle, no money, no cell phone—not even a map! This is what our intrepid migrating monarchs face every fall.
Fortunately, Mother Nature has equipped them with everything they need to find their way. Like migratory birds, monarch butterflies use the position of the sun to calculate where they should be going (a ‘sun compass’) . But the sun is a moving target—so how do they stay oriented as the sun moves across the sky? Monarchs also possess an internal circadian clock which adjusts their calculations as the sun's position changes throughout the day.
It had long been assumed that both mechanisms resided in the brain, but recent research has found that this isn’t the case. A monarch’s antennae are truly amazing high-tech multitools—sensing scents, sounds and wind direction. In addition, we now know that the clock which guides their sun compass also resides in the antennae.
​Author: Lisa Schneider
Photo credit: Istock

We know that a good supply of nectar is essential for monarchs who are making the long journey to Mexico. And we know that native plants such as milkweed, aster and goldenrod are excellent sources of this all-important food. But just how do butterflies consume it?
Butterflies eat with their proboscis. This long, narrow mouthpart has coevolved with the flowers a butterfly relies on for nectar, so not surprisingly the length of the proboscis is usually correlated with the depth of the corolla tube of the flower species on which it feeds. Because it looks rather like a drinking straw, it was always assumed that it works like one, too. But in science, assumptions can be dangerous!
Not long ago, an engineer who was watching his young daughters chasing butterflies became curious. How could butterflies suck liquid through a straw that might be several times their body length? According to the physics of fluid transport, this would expend more energy than it delivered—not a recipe for success!
Once the question was raised, other scientists became interested and further studies ensued. As a result, we now know that a proboscis works more like a sponge—soaking up the nectar via capillary action, aided by a suction pump in the head of the butterfly.
So the next time you observe a monarch fueling up on your milkweed plant, remember—there’s more to it than meets the eye!
Author: Lisa Schneider
Photo credit: Pam Ford

In mid-September, watch the sky for migrating monarchs! Monarchs east of the Rockies are headed to a very specific area in the mountains of central Mexico. The Oyamel fir forests provide the perfect monarch microclimate: not too warm, not too cold, and with just the right level of humidity.
Thousands of tourists travel to see this amazing sight each winter. It’s incredible to think that until fairly recently, only a few local villagers knew about it. But in 1975, a volunteer amateur naturalist and his wife were able to follow the monarchs' trail west from Mexico City, and the "Mountain of Monarchs" was discovered at last.
In recent years, there has been growing concern about deforestation in the monarchs’ winter home. The increase in intense weather events has also put stress on the area. And since monarchs rely on the cue of cooler weather for migratory orientation, some scientists fear that warming temperatures could cause monarchs to simply keep moving south—away from their natural habitat.
​Author: Lisa Schneider
Photo: Xerces Society

Since a monarch butterfly’s life cycle is only a few weeks long, several generations will be born over the course of the summer. At first glance, migrating monarchs may look the same as summer monarchs—but there are several important differences.
Migrating monarchs won’t mate or lay eggs until next spring. Instead, they put all their energy into getting ready for their epic road trip. Their focus is on food; they eat as much as possible, and extra nectar is stored as fat in the abdomen. They’ll need a good supply—not only for the journey, but also because they’ll eat almost nothing during their 5-month sojourn in Mexico.
​Author: Lisa Schneider
Photo: Journey North