Despite the wildly ranging temperatures lately, February is recognizable by it's mucky, grey days interspersed with spirit-lifting glimpses of brilliant blue skies.
And right on seasonal schedule, my thoughts have turned to seeds.
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Do you remember my efforts to establish milkweed stands for Monarch butterflies? A couple of years ago, I thought the population was secure: a small stand by the barn and two more below the terrace garden. There was an actual row of Monarch chrysalides dotted along the top of a garden fence by the barn, and two more in other locations. Success! I thought my work was done.
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I was wrong.
For some reason, in 2021 and again in 2022 there was less milkweed growing and almost none of it blooming. Last year I saw a Monarch butterfly only twice all summer, which may have been the same individual. And I never saw a single chrysalis.
So it's back to trying to increase the milkweed population. My usual method is to do this in Autumn, when the dry pods are already releasing seed. I just wait for a day with a light breeze, stand upwind from areas where I think milkweed has a chance of doing well, and release seed little by little to float and land where it will.
But last Autumn, the only two pods I saw didn't have much of a chance to dry and I began to wonder if the seed would rot before it had a chance to mature and disperse. So when I finally saw each pod split open slightly, I took a pinch of still-compressed seeds, hoping they were viable, and put them in a paper bag to dry. Yesterday I opened the bag.
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It's not a lot of seed, as you see:
I'll probably plant it directly, but if anyone has experience with planting milkweed and thinks starting it in a tray and then transplanting would be better, I'll give that a go. Please share your advice in the comments!
Apparently swamp milkweed is also valuable to Monarchs, so I bought a packet of seed to plant down in the tiny wetland where the marsh marigolds bloom every Spring. Another experiment.
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How I wish more people would plant milkweed, but I'm afraid I know nothing about how to go about it. Perhaps Mr. Google would have some tips?
ReplyDeleteI don't know about your area but here they classed milkweed as a noxious weed and mounted a huge campaign to get rid of it - only to discover the damage they were doing to the monarchs. Same thing with bringing in a foreign type of ladybug to deal with the purple loosestrife - only to discover the loosestrife leveled itself off and now we have miserable biting ladybugs taking over. Why they can't leave nature alone is beyond me. (climbing off my soapbox now....)
Introducing one non-native species to try to control another non-native invasive species is something that came up over and over again in my career in natural resources. Invasives are as much a thorn in my side as they are to anyone else, but I don't recall one instance where I thought deliberately bringing in another was a safe idea with a predictable outcome. My opinion was not always welcomed.
DeleteWe had our garden on the garden tour one year and we had some milkweed in one of the flower beds. We got the stink eye from a lot of people and some even went so far as to point out, in very strict tones, that were we AWARE we had *sniff* MILKWEED in our flower bed. To which I responded yes and that it was for the monarchs.
DeleteWOW. And that coming from guests in your garden - some nerve!
DeleteI never considered harvesting the seeds of the milkweed around here. I'll have to keep an eye out this year. That fluff is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteAnd when the seeds are detached, the floss seems to float in slow motion! Just that little ballast makes a big difference. It was captivating to watch. I'll have to post another picture :)
DeleteThere are many pots on my balcony that are filled with so-called weeds, also some grasses -- I have no idea what they are, but they grow freely, provide a glimpse of green and usually have some type of flower, so I let them grow however and wherever they want. Actually haven't seen quite so many butterflies around here this year. Silly people always cutting things back because they think sanitized and manicured is more appealing. I prefer wild and wooly. :) Good luck with the milkweed.
ReplyDeleteI had no luck finding seeds last fall. The few plants that show up here were dug up despite my asking to leave them for the butterflies. I rescued two, but they didn't survive. This year, I will rescue all of them.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your rescue efforts! What a shame that plants were dug up for no reason. I've had no luck moving milkweed plants that have been knocked down, but the stems may have been more damaged than they appeared. Perhaps if I had tried to transplant them before they got bumped into, it would have been successful.
DeleteSeed saving is a subject I know next to nothing about, so I can offer no advice. Just wanted to say these photos are amazing.
ReplyDeleteOh thank you, Jean!
DeleteI agree, the photos are wonderful. And the way the floss floats on the slightest air current is exhilarating. I volunteer at a drought-tolerant plant nursery, and we collect seeds from our demo garden just as you do. Because of the volume of plants we need to produce (and because they need to go into pots to sell), we start the milkweed seeds in flats and up-pot them to their individual pots once they're big enough. But for you, I doubt that's necessary. We have excellent germination; the seeds seem quite vigorous and the seedlings hardy. Good luck whichever way you do it.
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
PS This is where I volunteer (going on 7 years now): https://waterthriftyplants.com/
Thank you for all this info, Chris! What a good endeavor!
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