Daniel Potter freely admits he’s not an expert on monarchs. But as Professor of Entomology at the University of Kentucky, he and his grad students sure love to run experiments. Recently, they completed a two-year study on the likes and dislikes of the popular orange and black butterfly. Now for the first time ever, there’s a roadmap for building the perfect monarch garden.

WHY WE CARE

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably already a monarch fan. The butterflies’ annual migration from Mexico to Canada is one of the most spectacular events worldwide. All told, the tiny insects fly upwards of 2000 miles round trip each spring, stopping four times to breed and lay their eggs. They are the only butterfly species to make such a long, two-way migration.

Over the past 25 years, however, there’s been a sharp decline in monarch populations. Part of this is due to a loss of habitat at the butterflies’ overwintering site in Mexico. Activities such as logging, agriculture and urbanization have all taken their toll on the central highland forests that play host to the insects six months out of every year.

But by far the most significant factor driving the decline is the dwindling supply of a plant called milkweed. The native wildflower is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat. And without it, the butterflies cannot complete their life cycle, sustain their migration and ultimately, perpetuate their species.

MONARCH BUTTERFLY GARDENS NEED MILKWEED 

According to the North American Monarch Conservation Plan, we need 1.8 billion milkweed stems to replace those that have been lost to agriculture and urbanization. And to sustain the annual migration, these contributions need to come from all land sectors. This includes farms, roadsides, schools, zoos and rights of way. And it also includes suburban and urban gardens located along the butterflies’ migratory corridor.

Happily, an initiative called the Monarch Waystation Program is starting to make a crucial difference. Established in 2005, it engages citizens in conservation by providing instructional materials on how to build and maintain your own monarch habitat. The guidelines are simple: Plant two or more milkweed varieties for the caterpillars to feed on along with some nectar sources for the adults, and you become part of a national registry.

To date, over 6000 Monarch Waystations in 46 states have become part of the effort. 

WHAT MONARCHS LIKE

As it happened, the Waystation Program Registry provided the perfect jumping off point for Potter’s research into monarch butterfly gardens. A quick Google Earth search by his team revealed hundreds of habitats scattered along the butterflies’ northward route. What’s more, they represented every kind of landscape.

As Potter put it, ‘Some were non-structured, others ‘wild’, and still others were surrounded by hardscape or located in open rural areas.’ Below are some aerial shots of a few of them. (Photo courtesy Dr. Daniel Potter.)

What Potter and his team wondered was this – with all of this diversity, were there certain habitats that the butterflies found more attractive than others? To find the answer, the group decided to survey 22 citizen-planted Waystations. Below are some key outcomes from their investigation. 

1. MONARCHS LIKE STRUCTURE

Like most species, monarchs use visual cues to zero in on what they’re looking for. And in the butterflies’ case, these ‘search images’ are made up exclusively of milkweed. But as the Registry revealed, not all Waystations are the same. Did monarchs favor certain monarch butterfly gardens over others?

Monarchs from ‘search images’ for milkweed

To find out, the researchers counted larvae and caterpillars for a year in their target Waystations to see if the type of habitat made any measurable difference.

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed leaf

And they discovered that yes, the butterflies exhibited a strong preference. A structured garden, with milkweed surrounded by mulch, attracted three to five times more monarchs.

The takeaway? If you want more monarchs, make it easy for them to find the milkweed to lay their eggs on. Plant it apart from other plants. Even better, surround it with a mulch circle. But make sure to provide other nectar producing plants nearby for the returning adult butterflies to feed on.

2. MONARCHS PREFER A NORTH-SOUTH ACCESS

Interestingly, the researchers found that gardens with unimpeded north-south access recruited more monarchs. This makes sense since it coincides with the butterflies’ migratory route.

Monarchs prefer gardens with a north-south access

3. THE TALLER THE BETTER

While all milkweed species are suitable for food, not all are equally favored by monarchs. To find out why, the group compared 8 varieties of milkweed all grown in Kentucky and native to the area. They evaluated them as to their suitability for egg-laying as well as their usability as food for monarch caterpillars. And there was a clear preference.

Where they had a choice, monarchs preferred the taller varieties, Swamp, Common and Showy over the smaller varieties like Butterfly weed. 

The takeaway? If you want to attract more egg-laying monarchs to your monarch butterfly garden, plant the tall, broadleaf milkweed varieties.

4. MILKWEED CULTIVARS ARE EQUALLY TASTY

But what about all of the new milkweed varieties, you might ask? As it has grown in popularity (mainly due to monarchs), milkweed is now available in many cultivars boasting unusual colors and sizes.

Asclepias Gay Butterflies Mix/White Flower Farm

Not to worry. Potter and his students discovered that monarchs find these cultivars just as attractive as the straight species. But again, go with the bigger varieties if you want more monarchs.

5. DON’T BECOME AN ECOLOGICAL TRAP

Finally, there’s the case of tropical milkweed, a non-native plant that has exploded in popularity over the past decade. Both gardeners and monarchs love it. But buyer beware. Tropical milkweed is not ‘bad’, per se, but when planted in warm areas of the U.S. it encourages monarchs to stick around longer. It even enables them to winter-breed.

Tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica

Research shows, however, that monarchs breeding on tropical milkweed throughout the winter (rather than returning to Mexico) have higher levels of protozoan infection compared to monarchs in the normal migratory cycles. It turns out that migration is key to outrunning these pathogens.

The takeaway? Stick to the tried and true native milkweed species and help the insects keep to their schedule.

To learn more about Daniel Potter and his research into monarchs and other insects, click here for the Dr. Daniel A. Potter Laboratory.

This article was updated January 2022.