Help save the butterflies

And make the world a more beautiful place

Update: I’ve expanded on the ideas here in a new Backyard Adventure: Raise your own monarch butterflies.

At Parker Woods Montessori, we all love monarch butterflies. Like many species on our planet, monarchs face many challenges. The population has shrunk dramatically, and their great migration has nearly collapsed more than once. That made Mirabella the Monarch a difficult story to write because I wanted to help, but I didn’t want the story to be depressing or preachy. Eventually, I chose to focus on the inspirational qualities of the monarch migration as an example of how we can make the world a better place. And I decided to put the science on the website along with some practical ways to help.

Three simple ways you can help save the monarch butterfly

1. The #1 thing is to plant milkweed in your garden. It is a beautiful, low-maintenance perennial flower. Planting milkweed can be as easy as sowing some seeds. You can buy seeds or just collect some seed pods in the late summer. Sprinkle the seeds into your garden in the autumn and let nature take its course.
2. Almost as important as milkweed is to include plants that are friendly to pollinating insects (butterflies, bees, and more). Adult monarchs drink nectar to power their migration. I prefer to plant butterfly bushes. I also recommend indigenous flowers. And a vegetable garden is a great way to support both you and the pollinating insects.
3. And, like all things on the planet, the monarch butterfly appreciates a clean, natural habitat. So that means no pesticides, herbicides, or other pollutants like car exhaust or garbage.

That’s the how-to. If you need some inspiration to get started, we recommend reading our book Mirabella the Monarch, with fantastic illustrations by the elementary students.