•September 2, 2020•
Illinois needs to plant milkweed, and a lot of it, over the next 18 years to ensure the state’s official insects, monarch butterflies, survive.
Kelly Allsup, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator, says the task of planting 150 million new milkweed stems by 2038, championed by the Illinois Monarch Project (illinoismonarchproject.org), needs public buy in.
“Major statewide strategies, such as updated roadside mowing guidelines, creating habitat in natural areas, and allowing it to grow in farmland not in production, may not be enough,” Allsup says. “Monarchs may need homeowners to plant a larger patches of milkweed.”     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.