monarchs

Monarch butterflies are not doing well, according to USA Today.

The number of monarch butterflies turning up at California’s overwintering sites has dropped by about 86 percent compared with only a year ago, according to the Xerces Society, which organizes a yearly count of the iconic creatures.

That’s bad news for a species whose numbers have already declined an estimated 97 percent since the 1980s.

So plant some milkweed. I started and planted a few seeds of butterfly milkweed in my small urban garden about 3 growing seasons ago, and they are just now starting to get a bit aggressive. I’m not sure how the neighbors feel, but it’s fine with me. I have in fact seen a few monarchs out there.

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