Anderson County Monarch Butterfly Program

Lots of native milkweeds and pollinator food source plants growing in abundance here this beautiful Spring. The rain and early warmer temperatures has been a huge part of that.

Thanks again to Monarch Watch and the University of Kansas for their generosity. We have received what was needed this year…. plenty of young native milkweeds to improve upon the existing natural habitat areas we have been working on since 2017. Stay tuned for the next step as we plant these with our volunteer helpers!

NEW GRANT! We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded another plant grant for our native milkweed and monarch habitat restoration efforts! Plants will arrive shortly so stay tuned to see the continued process! (Photo is a sprouting piece of a large corm of Asclepias Syriaca that was a rescued casualty of roadside mowing).

Happy ! How do monarchs become toxic to predators?

Monarchs become toxic to predators by sequestering or storing toxins from the milkweed plants that they eat. Milkweed contains toxins called cardenolides, or cardiac glycosides, which are toxic to predators. This makes monarchs very distasteful or unpleasant to predators. Some predators have evolved ways to avoid or tolerate these toxins, such as the bird predators found in Mexican overwintering colonies.

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A Few Weeks After Burning A Prairie