How to make a way station for traveling monarch butterflies

The iconic western monarch butterfly is in peril. By some estimates, the population of this increasingly elusive pollinator has plunged to a mere 1% of its historic levels. Some scientific models have suggested it is in a death spiral from which it cannot recover.

However dire the situation, there are many citizen scientists, conservationists and home gardeners who are not ready to give up the fight to preserve this majestic butterfly.

Among these champions is the Windsor Garden Club, which has launched a challenge to create 100 monarch way stations in gardens throughout their community. Making a way station is something anyone with even a small patch of garden space can do, said Cindy Fenton, who is leading the project. The effort has been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic, but so far 60 people have signed up.

“I’m in a subdivision in the middle of town. There is not enough habitat left anymore to support the population of insects,” Fenton said. “And the monarch is the canary in the coal mine in our area.”

Scientists say climate change is one of the key factors causing the decline of the monarch, along with pesticides, development and loss of the plants they need for survival.

Suzanne Clarke, a Sonoma County Master Gardener and founder of the Sonoma County Butterfly Alliance, has had a way station in her garden for 20 years. In it is milkweed, essential for the butterflies to lay their eggs on and as food for the caterpillars. Milkweed is the only host plant for the monarch. Clarke also has nectar-producing plants for the butterflies. Even with the declining numbers of monarchs, some usually do visit her oasis. But this year she hasn’t seen a single one.

“This year has really been quite desperate,” she said, attributing the butterflies’ disappearance to the smoke and wildfires that have ravaged the west.

“Smoke forces them to go overland a bit more. They bypass us,” she said.

Migration

Each year in fall, monarchs migrate from their summer habitat in Canada back to their overwintering grounds along the Pacific Coast, which historically has stretched from Mendocino County south to Baja, California. It takes several generations to make the trip, since a migrating monarch’s two- to eight-week lifespan is not long enough for the entire journey. Each generational cycle travels, eats nectar, mates and lays eggs that hatch into caterpillars that turn into chrysalises and emerge eight to 15 days later as spectacular orange-and-black-winged butterflies.

Monarchs start arriving at their overwintering sites in September and the first half of October, clustering in groves of eucalyptus, cypress and other large evergreen trees along the coast. At one time there were clusters on the Bodega Dunes and at Sea Ranch. But they have all but disappeared locally, Clarke said. She participates in the annual Thanksgiving butterfly count through the nonprofit Xerxes Society and has been closely watching the local monarch presence for years.

Overwintering monarchs can be found in the branches, leaves and occasionally the trunks of trees. They like evergreens that have some opening for light that provides warmth. This overwintering generation lives much longer than their migrating predecessors, between six to eight months, because they aren’t using energy to reproduce and they are in a very cool location, which slows their metabolism. Through winter they will remain in a state of partial hibernation called diapause, moving only to consume nectar, hydrate or sun themselves. In February or March the survivors will begin moving on, flying north as they chase the nectar of spring flowers.

The Xerxes Society’s monarch count last winter recorded 29,000 of the butterflies, up slightly from the year before when the count dropped to its lowest ever at 27,000. The federal government currently is considering whether to list the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act. A decision is expected by December, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Welcome mat

Washington State University researchers have predicted the monarch will be extinct within a few decades if nothing is done to save it.

That may seem daunting, but there are steps home gardeners can take to support the cause by laying out the welcome mat for traveling or overwintering monarchs. The most important of these is to plant milkweed, the only plant on which monarchs will lay their eggs and which the caterpillars will eat. Other butterflies use other host plants, but for the monarch, the milkweed is it and is key to their survival.

Wildlife groups recommend using only milkweed native to your area. In Sonoma County that would include the narrow-leaved or narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) and the showy milkweed (Asclepias sepciosa). The former is weedy and spreads easily. Plant it in a discreet spot where you can keep it drier than other plants to prevent it from spreading too much, Fenton said.

The showy milkweed is more striking, with attractive leaves and blooms. It can be propagated from root cuttings now, so you’ll have larger plants sooner. It grows up to 5 feet tall.

The tropical milkweed (Asclepias curvassica) is found in many nurseries, but it is controversial, Fenton said. You must religiously cut it back hard in July and all the way to the ground in October to prevent the spread of OE (ophryocystis elektroscirrha), a microscopic parasite that attacks monarchs.

Milkweed starts can be a bit hard to find. But California Flora Nursery in Fulton and Annie’s Annuals in Richmond are two sources. The Milo Baker Chapter of the California Native Plant Society also will be selling native milkweed, along with good monarch nectar plants, in its annual fall plant sale Oct. 9 to 11. People can order online and pick up their plants that weekend at the chapter’s nursery, located at the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, at 900 Sanford Road in Santa Rosa. For more information, visit milobaker.cnps.org.

The Windsor Garden Club also has a limited number of milkweed starts and seed which they will share along with planting information. Fenton encourages people to contact her at cfenton1957@gmail.com for more information, including instructions on how to plant from seed in the winter.

When planting milkweed, make sure it gets plenty of water so it can establish itself, Fenton said. Plant it in a sunny location. To put off predators and parasites, don’t plant all your milkweed in one place. Plant them one foot apart in groups of three. Six to nine starts per 100 square feet is a good rule of thumb. Mulch with something that biodegrades easily, like straw or hay. Leave a ring of soil around the stem to prevent rot. Water once or twice a week for the first six weeks, decreasing your irrigation as the plants establish themselves.

Well-rooted starts of milkweed can be planted now.

Water puddles

There are other things home gardeners can do to help the delicate and increasingly rare monarchs. One is to create puddling stations. Monarchs prefer to drink water in small puddles that don’t overwhelm them and where they can get the minerals they need to stay strong.

To make a puddling station, mix a couple of tablespoons of compost with course sand and spread it in a saucer. Moisten the mixture with water and place it on the ground in a sunny spot.

Monarchs also need warmth to fly, and they use the sun for navigation. Fenton recommends surrounding your puddling station with flagstones or pavers for monarchs to sun themselves on.

They also like to eat fresh or rotting fruit. Especially in early spring, you may want to leave out some citrus or bananas. Just make sure you bring it in at night because it also will entice rats.

Monarchs rely on certain nectar plants to fuel their journey. Five superb native plants that are small-garden friendly are:

• Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina.’ A neat compact mound of flowers that pollinators love.
• Coyote mint. Look for the uber-local ’Russian River’ and ’Mark West’ varieties at California Flora Nursery in Fulton.
• California buckwheat. There are prettier varieties, but this native is the easiest to grow. It needs good drainage and filtered light in the afternoon. It’s also host to four other butterfly species, so you get a big bang for your butterfly buck.
• Salvia clevlandii ‘Pozo Blue.’ It has a short but spectacular bloom. Pollinators and butterflies love it.
• Goldenrod. The Californica variety spreads. The Rugosa is more compact.
• Dr. Hurd manzanita. Provides good nectar early in the season.

Don’t use any toxic herbicides in your garden. And consider becoming a citizen scientist by spotting and recording monarch sightings. Get guidance by downloading the free iNaturalist app.

“Go looking for monarchs on their long return journey through the smoke and fire up north to provide data to help conservation biologists develop the best strategies for saving this species,” Fenton said. “We have seen very few this summer, and we need to share our sightings.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com. OnTwitter @megmcconahey.