@xerces_society does it again. An awesome resource for learning about #milkweed and #monarch habitat.

The Xerces Society continually produces amazing resources about the invertebrates of North America and the native plants that sustain their populations. I have documents created by this group that I collected while I was in school that are still useful and relevant years later. I refer to several of their habitat guides on a regular basis.

Today I found this gem, Milkweeds A Conservation Practitioner's Guide, posted on the Tallgrass Prairie Supporters group. This guide is an incredibly detailed yet easy-to-follow guide to producing, harvesting, and planting milkweed species. The information is provided for people who will be producing milkweed on an agricultural scale to provide seed for large habitat restoration projects. However, the background information about the ecology and life cycle of milkweed is interesting and all of the techniques for seed production can be scaled down to be used by any gardener or stewardship group.

Milkweed has been a highly sought-after native plant the past couple years because it is the only source of food for the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar. With steadily decreasing populations across North America, the Monarch has been all over the news and, as its companion plant, milkweed has been making headlines as well. I am so glad to see that the Xerces Society is providing this type of high-quality and well-researched document so that restoring milkweed and monarch habitat can be a simple action for any one to try.

I always did want to be a conservation practitioner when I grew up.