The survival of Monarchs depends greatly on the milkweed plant. Their little caterpillars eat nothing, but the milkweed plants, and their butterflies use the plants for laying eggs.
The population of the milkweed plant has decreased greatly over the years, mainly due to the poor management of land. To make sure that the monarchs do not vanish completely as they help provide nectar for numerous kinds of butterflies and bees, it is important to plant the milkweed plant in a sufficient quantity.
Basics of Milkweed Plant
According to Plant Taxonomy, the milkweed plant is classified as ‘Asclepias syriaca.’ They are herbaceous perennials. These plants are three feet tall. They are thin and give flowers in clusters during the summer season. The pink colored flower bunches bloom at the top of the milkweed plant’s stem, looking like a globe. Its leaves look like a four-sided figure, are broad and of a light shade of green.
The seed pods of the plant come after the flowers and look like mini cucumbers. These pods rupture open during the end of summer and this process ends when the fall season arrives. On bursting open, the pods reveal their small seeds that are fastened to silky, white colored hairs. These seeds are distributed easily when a wind blows.
You will find these plants in abundance on the roadsides of Eastern America where they grow as huge wildflowers. The most common kind of these plants normally grows from the zone 3 till zone 9.
Common milkweed plants grow best in a well-drained soil and in full sun. It is also drought-resistant.
