Monarchs & Milkweed
Photo by Teri Carter
Monarchs Need Your Help!
There has recently been a sharp decline in monarch overwintering numbers which may represent the shrinking of their migratory route.
Milkweed to lay eggs on is in short supply, according to field observers, and will severely hurt the 3,000-mile monarch migration from Central Mexico to Central Canada.
In a good year, approximately 180-280 million monarchs start migrating, mate, lay eggs along the way, and their children continue the round trip. Milkweed is needed along the entire route or they will not survive. It takes more than one milkweed plant for each surviving adult due to natural predators. That is an enormous amount of milkweed! Most North Americans were very lucky to have seen even one Monarch butterfly over the past few years.
What can you do? Plant NATIVE milkweed!!
At home, school, work, church, the library, the local park - anywhere in your community! Just one mating pair and a good supply of milkweed could produce many healthy fluttering friends for your community.
See below to request a free packet of native milkweed seeds (SC residents only; one packet per household).
Check with your local plant nursery to see if they carry NATIVE milkweed, and encourage them to do so if not.
Click here for a list of types of milkweed native to South Carolina.
Additional Information:
More information on the monarch population decline & conservation efforts
Native milkweed versus tropical milkweed
Why it's not a good idea to buy caterpillars or butterflies for release
Check out this fascinating article about a SCDNR study indicating that some monarch butterflies overwinter in South Carolina instead of migrating to Mexico.
South carolina residents:
Request a free packet of native milkweed seeds using the form below!
Each packet contains 3/8 teaspoons of milkweed seeds native to South Carolina, including swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Click here to sign up for our monthly enewsletter.
UPDATE: Requests have been fulfilled for this year! We are now accepting requests for 2025. Thank you to all who have helped with this project and continue to help the monarchs!
TO REQUEST A SEED PACKET FOR 2025, PLEASE FILL OUT THE REQUEST FORM BELOW (SC RESIDENTS ONLY; ONE PER HOUSEHOLD).
For bulk orders, we request a donation of 50 cents per packet to offset the costs of packaging and assembly.
2024 Milkweed Seed Packets sponsored by Comporium
