08/17/2026
Swoon! The milkw**d put on an incredible show this year. They're truly beacons for Giant Swallowtails, Monarchs, and hummingbirds - attracting a bit of extra magic (and pollinators) to the orchard.
Orchardists have a love-hate relationship with milkw**d plants because they can become quite invasive under irrigation in Colorado orchards and vineyards. Cattle growers also remove them from hay fields because they are poisonous to cows.
But one man's w**d is another man's whole world. Milkw**d is the singular host plant for Monarch butterflies to reproduce. It's *the only plant* Monarch caterpillars can eat and *the only place* females can lay their eggs. They literally can't complete their life cycle without it.
Because of this, the loss of milkw**d in the American West is credited with the 80-90% loss of the world's Monarch butterfly population since the 1990's.
We decided that instead of digging it all out we will let the milkw**d grow, and bloom, and host as many butterflies as it can, then pull out the stalks before they drop their seeds. This limits their spread but does not eliminate them. Next year, the rhizomes below ground will send up fresh stalks, and we start the process all over again.
It is a bit of extra work on our list but well worth supporting the world's 10% remaining population of Monarch butterflies.
If you'd like to learn more about how you can support Monarch butterflies and other endangered pollinators in your own garden, please visit the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation at xerces.org.
