Monarchs, Milkweed, CastorFolk

At Castorfolk , we don’t only grow sunflowers, cosmos and zinnias for bouquets. We also intentionally promote native wildflowers to thrive around the property.

This year we have noticed an abundance of milkweed coming up. In mid July we did a heavy, 50% prune on most of the milkweed to encourage new , tender leaf growth. These juvenile leaves make for an attractive site for monarchs to lay their eggs. The young monarch caterpillars prefer to eat the soft new leaves.

By choosing to mow around patches of milkweed and allowing it to grow in our fields, we have become something of a monarch way station. Providing an ample nectar source for any monarch that decides to stop by on its way to Mexico. Demands for coffee and avocado have lead to massive deforestation and destruction of monarch habitat in Mexico, so it’s especially important now to grow their host plant.

How great to see our intent come to fruition. We have seen so many monarch caterpillars on our evening walks around the property. This place has a long way to go before our design is complete, but it is great to be rewarded with hints of success along the way.