The Plight of the Monarch

 

 

Hello Gardeners

 Perhaps you’ve heard the news that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing the monarch butterfly as an endangered species. To hear of this made me very sad.

 

Monarchs are an iconic creature in North America. Their demise is due to many factors including deforestation in Mexico, land development in the Midwest, use of neonicotinoid pesticides and the use of ‘round-up ready’ crops (which mean an estimated 99% of the milkweed that grew on the edges of crops is now gone). A great article from WWF explains the factors involved in the decrease of the monarch butterfly Monarch Butterfly.

 

Almost everyone recognizes a monarch butterfly, even preschoolers can tell you their favorite food – milkweeds. It is hard to imagine a world without these beautiful butterflies. Maybe you are thinking there is nothing I can do about it—but you would be wrong! There’s plenty you can do. Of course, you can write your representatives in government asking to prevent the use of neonicotinoids and the use of herbicides on crops. But a closer to home hands-on activity is to plant native flowers monarch butterflies need such as milkweeds, blazing stars and other flowers needed for larval feeding and nectar. This could be an almost free activity as the White Bear Lake Seed Library has many monarch friendly seeds available for free.

Here is a list of native plant seeds monarchs love available at the seed library:

Asclepias spp: Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, Butterfly Weed

Liatris spp: Rough Blazing Star, Dwarf Blazing Star, Meadow Blazing Star, Dotted Blazing Star, Prairie Blazing Star, Dense Blazing Star

Echinacea spp: Pale Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower

Eupatorium spp: Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Joe Pye Weed

Solidago spp: Showy Goldenrod, Stiff Goldenrod

Verbena spp: Blue Vervain, Hoary Vervain

Helianthus maximiliani – Maximillian Sunflower

Aster novae-angliae – New England Aster

 

Now I know everyone has a list a mile long of things to do this holiday season, but once the New Year’s hoopla is over, please consider starting some tasty native plants for monarch butterflies. If you’re not in a position to plant natives next season, perhaps a friend of neighbor would appreciate seedlings of these monarch favorites.

 

Many native plant seeds need a period of stratification before they will germinate. Stratification is a period of a cold, moist environment (i.e. winter) before the seed will germinate. This is nature’s way of preventing seeds from germinating in the fall when there may only be a few weeks for the seedling to grow.

 

Stratification can be done many ways.

1.     Direct sow seeds in the ground this fall. They will germinate next spring.

2.     Use the winter sowing method using plastic jugs or containers. In this method you use empty milk/water jugs or empty plastic container with a clear cover, such as take out chicken containers or large yogurt containers. Start by punching holes all over the bottom, sides and top of the containers. If you are using a plastic jug, cut along the equator of the jug leaving a small bit uncut by the handle. Place about 3” of potting soil (not garden soil) in the bottom of the container. Plant the seeds. Put the cover on the container and place outside in a sheltered area that will receive sun and rain/snow for the winter. Early next spring check the container and water if necessary. Soon you will have seedling emerging. Later in the spring or early summer you can plant these seedlings directly in your garden as they will not need to be hardened off.

3.     You can also do winter sowing using damp fine sand or damp coffee filters and a Ziploc bag. Place the seed in the sand or on the coffee filter. Place in a ziplock bag and store in your refrigerator for the number of days needed to stratify. (All the seed library packets specify the stratification time.)  After the stratification time has elapsed plant the seeds in trays or small containers to germinate inside your home. These seedlings will need to be hardened off before planting in your garden late spring.

 

Many families make it a holiday tradition to buy gifts for a Giving Tree or Toys for Tots. Consider starting a new family tradition of giving our earth a gift of native plants!

 

May Your Holidays be Merry, Bright and Green!

Pam

 

Contact info for the Seed Library:

Email: wblseedlibrary@gmail.com

Blog site: WBL Seed Library

 

New Native Plant Seed Packets in the Seed LIbrary

 

Hello Gardeners

 

I have added over 200 packets of native plant seeds to the seed library!

Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped package seeds this fall. I still have more native plant seeds to package, so if you would like to package seeds at home, please let me know. I can make up a bag of seeds and supplies you can pick up at the library, package them at home and then return to the library. You can email me at wblseedlibrary@gmail.com if you are interested.

 

You may think that I am a bit early for packaging seeds as winter is not a usual time for planting seeds in Minnesota, but actually winter is a great time for planting native plant seeds!

 

Many native plant seeds need a period of stratification before they will germinate. Stratification is a period of a cold, moist environment (i.e. winter) before the seed will germinate. This is nature’s way of preventing seeds from germinating in the fall when there may only be a few weeks for the seedling to grow.

 

Stratification can be done many ways.

1.     Direct sow seeds in the ground this fall. They will germinate next spring.

2.     Use the winter sowing method using plastic jugs or containers. In this method you use empty milk/water jugs or empty plastic container with a clear cover, such as take out chicken containers or large yogurt containers. Start by punching holes all over the bottom, sides and top of the containers. If you are using a plastic jug, cut along the equator of the jug leaving a small bit uncut by the handle. Place about 3” of potting soil (not garden soil) in the bottom of the container. Plant the seeds. Put the cover on the container and place outside in a sheltered area that will receive sun and rain/snow for the winter. Early next spring check the container and water if necessary. Soon you will have seedling emerging. Later in the spring or early summer you can plant these seedlings directly in your garden as they will not need to be hardened off.

3.     You can also do winter sowing using damp fine sand or damp coffee filters and a Ziploc bag. Place the seed in the sand or on the coffee filter. Place in a ziplock bag and store in your refrigerator for the number of days needed to stratify. (All the seed library packets specify the stratification time.)  After the stratification time has elapsed plant the seeds in trays or small containers to germinate inside your home. These seedlings will need to be hardened off before planting in your garden late spring.

Native plant seeds are the best for attracting pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. They are easy to care for and need little maintenance once established.

 

Remember the seed library would love to have your seeds! Saving seeds is easy and fun. It is helpful if you remove the seeds from the seed heads or pods before donating to the seed library. It saves many hours of volunteer time if we don’t have to ‘clean’ the seeds before packaging.

Below is a quick how-to guide in saving seeds.

 

How to Save Seeds

1. Select open-pollinated (not hybrid/ F1) varieties of plants.

2. Start with the easiest seeds to save: Peas, Beans, Tomatoes, Lettuce and Native Plants.

3. Grow your plants making sure they are not cross-pollinated with other varieties. Select the healthiest plants to harvest seeds. If growing vegetables, also select good tasting fruit with high yields. Don’t choose wonky looking plants and select fruits from more than one plant if possible.

4. Gather fruits or seed pods at the correct time. See details below.

5. Dry seeds thoroughly. Store seeds in paper envelopes or small clean jars in a dry, cold location. A plastic or glass container in your refrigerator is a great place to store seeds.

6. Label, label, label!  Include the date, location and other notes about the plant, such as days to maturity or sun preference. You will forget come springtime.

Peas and Beans

Allow pods to ripen on the plants until they are dry and start turning brown. Peas and beans must be completely ripe or they won’t germinate. This will take about a month after harvesting the other peas/beans for eating. You can either strip the pods from the plants or pull up the entire plants whole and spread them to dry inside or other sheltered well-ventilated area for a couple of weeks. Shell pods and store in paper envelopes or jars. Pea and bean seeds remain viable for 3 years.

Tomatoes

Allow fruit to ripen fully and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Put the seeds and pulp in a glass jar with some water. Let sit at room temperature for 2-4 days, stirring once a day. Each day pour off the pulp and seeds that float to the top. Viable seeds will sink to the bottom. After 4 days, remove the seeds at the bottom, rinse thoroughly, drain and spread on newspaper or paper towels to dry. Package in paper envelopes or jars. Tomato seeds remain viable for 4 years.

Lettuce

You must allow the lettuce plant to bolt or grow a stalk which will make a flower head with small yellow flowers. They eventually change to feathery white tufts which contain black or white seeds. Lettuce seeds don’t ripen all at once, so monitor the plants for a month or two. Each time you see some seeds turning dark, shake the plant over a paper bag to catch the seeds. Dry indoors for a week before storing. Lettuce seeds remain viable for 5 years.

Native Plants

Most native plants produce a flower, which if pollinated, will make a seed head or pod. Late in the fall or after a frost, collect the seed pods or heads and allow to thoroughly dry. Remove the seeds before storing. Many native plants, especially milkweeds, attach a fluff bit to each seed to allow the seeds to disperse in the wind. To remove this fluff put the opened seed pods in a bucket or container with a lid. Add a couple of coins and close the lid and shake. The shaking with the coins will remove the fluff from the seeds. After shaking, the seeds will be at the bottom of the container.

Most native seeds require a moist cold period of time called stratification before they will germinate. The easiest way to grow these seeds is to plant them in the fall and let them go through the winter where they will sprout in the spring. Otherwise you will need to simulate winter by placing the seeds in moist sand and storing in the refrigerator for a set number of days before starting inside.  

 

RESOURCES

University of Minnesota Extension information - http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/vegetables/saving-vegetable-seeds/

Seed Savers Exchange – http://www.seedsavers.org/

Native plant growing from Prairie Moon Nursery - https://www.prairiemoon.com/

Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole B. Turner

Starting and Saving Seeds by Julie Thompson-Adolf

 

Local Greenhouses and Nurseries

As a request from our volunteers I am adding a list of various local greenhouses or garden centers that sell plants. Many of these establishments do not use neonicotinoids on their plants that they grow. But the buyer should beware: they may sell plants that were grown previously at a different wholesaler which did use systemic pesticides. You should ask the growers at these establishments whether neonics were used on the plants you wish to purchase.

Neonicotinoids or ‘neonics’ are a systemic pesticides used on plants to kill insects. Unfortunately, these insecticides also harm pollinators as the insecticide gets into all parts of the plant including the pollen and nectar.

The only way to be sure a plant has not been treated with neonics is to buy certified organic seed and grow it yourself, or buy a certified organically grown plant.

More information here.

 

Goldman’s Greenhouse – East Bethel, MN

Website: Goldman's

 

Outback Nursery – Hastings, MN

Seller of Minnesota native trees, shrubs and perennials.

Website: Outback

 

Prairie Moon Nursery – Winona, MN and order online

They have hundreds of varieties of native plant seeds, plants and bare root stock.

Website: Prairiemoon

 

Prairie Restorations – Scandia, MN

Seller of Minnesota native plants.

Website: Prairieresto

 

 

Pam

 

 

Contact info for the Seed Library:

Email: wblseedlibrary@gmail.com

Blog site: WBL Seed Library