Monarch Butterfly Lifecycle – in the Leavenworth Pollinator Garden

Monarch butterflies are a beautiful and endangered insect. Their numbers have declined rapidly since 2021, and at the Thanksgiving count of 2023 there was a 30% decrease in numbers from 2022. They are the reason that the Pollinator Garden was started in 2016. We have the milkweed, the native plants providing nectar, and the good weather, but we are missing the Monarchs! This session will cover their lifestyle, their complete metamorphosis from egg to butterfly, their 3000 mile migration to Mexico and California, and their generational progress as they fly north in early summer. It will include the milkweed and nectar from native plants needed to survive, their predators and declining habitat, and how we may reintroduce them to the Pollinator Garden.