Monarchs and Milkweeds

I hate growing milkweed plants. Well, it's not the plants I hate. It's the sticky orange aphids that always seem to infest milkweed plants that I truly loath. And "infest" is not hyperbole; in fact, it probably understates the problem.

But after hearing about the collapse of the monarch butterfly population on the west coast, I figured that, once again, I must get over my aversion to pulsing, brainless orange bugs and plant some milkweeds.

So this summer I researched which species of milkweed are native to my area, and planted Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). In a pot, and far away from any other plants that those orange buggers also might want to colonize. And each time I water the milkweed, I always wear work gloves so that I can smash, smush, squish and squash them into oblivion. A festival of murder and mayhem every two or three days. All without getting my hands dirty.

And the payoff for all this hands-on grossness? Three days ago, I found the first little monarch caterpillar munching away. It's a little late in the season, but maybe s/he can pull it off. And if not this season, no matter. There will be more chances next year because this time around I won’t give up on milkweeds and monarchs just because of some icky-sticky orange bugs.