TheGardenLady has written before about the disappearance of the Monarch butterfly. There was not one Monarch in my garden last summer. And TheGardenLady has written about the need to raise plants in your garden that will feed Monarch butterflies if they come to your area. Special plants are needed for Monarchs to feed and breed.
On this subject of the Monarch butterfly, an excellent new book recently appeared on Amazon.com about what one town is doing to encourage Monarchs to come and feed before laying eggs for a new generation of Monarch butterflies or migrating to Mexico. The book is ” MONARCH X-ING” by Pecki Sherman Witonsky. You can buy it here.
The town is Cape May Point in New Jersey. This is the place on the East Coast of the US where birds and Monarchs have their last stop before flying to their winter habitat across the ocean. It is in Cape May Point, NJ, where the Monarch butterflies and birds MUST eat before starting out on this long, major voyage.
“Monarch X- ING” tells about what their Cape May community has been doing to help the Monarchs. The book, for people of all ages, presents ideas about things that can be done to help the Monarchs survive.
It shows photos of all the stages of a Monarch butterfly. It tells about planting the various kinds of milkweed that Monarchs need and would grow in your area, stopping the use of pesticides that seem to be killing not only Monarch butterflies but other beneficial insects, and ways to add plants to your garden, meadows and areas- plants that Monarchs need to survive.
The book shows how a community and a school came together to help the Monarchs, something other communities and schools could emulate. The book has photos of children planting plants for the Monarchs and tagging the Monarchs to study them as they migrate. It shows other pollinators that are also helped by helping the Monarch butterflies.
The book ends with a list of Resources to use in your planning to save the Monarchs and it has a sign, written by children, asking if you will join them in planting milkweed for the Monarchs. How will you answer these children who want to save the Monarch butterflies?
Get the “Monarch X-ING” book and have a community “read-in” to start your community project of saving the Monarchs. Then email TheGardenLady.org to let our readers know how you and your community are helping. We will post your photos and ideas. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this Monarch butterfly project went viral?