St. George’s is designated monarch waystation

#Middlebury #Monarch

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

A garden at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Middlebury is now a registered Monarch Waystation. That means it provides shelter and plants the monarch butterfly needs for all its life cycles. (Marjorie Needham photo)

There’s a newly erected sign in one of the flower gardens at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Middlebury. “Monarch Waystation” it proclaims, “This site provides milkweeds, nectar sources and shelter needed to sustain monarch butterflies as they migrate through North America.” The sign went up in mid-May, just as the monarch butterflies were beginning to reach Connecticut after leaving their overwintering grounds in Mexico in early March and heading north through Texas. See journeynorth.org for a migration map showing their progress northward.

The woman behind the project to establish a waystation at the church is member Leslie Kruse. Kruse, who has been gardening at the church for years, said she got the idea after observing all the birds, bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, rabbits and toads that are drawn to the garden. “They love that particular garden,” she said.

She decided to research Monarch butterflies and their needs and discovered the garden had the plants necessary for their various life stages – milkweed (the only plant on which they lay eggs and their larvae grow) and nectar plants such as liatris (gay feather) and echinacea and even phlox that blooms in the fall. Fall-blooming nectar plants are important because the monarchs need to feed as they make the long journey back to Mexico in the fall.

Kruse also discovered the Monarch Waystation program at MonarchWatch.org. MonarchWatch is based out of the University of Kansas and is dedicated to monarch conservation. Kruse said the waystation application form asked about the garden’s milkweed plants and nectar plants. “It was easy for the church to qualify because all the plants were there,” she said.

A Monarch butterfly rests on a milkweed plant. Milkweed is essential to this butterfly’s survival. (Submitted photo)

As reported in our March article on the Pomperaug Valley Garden Club’s presentation on monarch butterflies, monarchs, which numbered 1 billion as recently as 1996, have declined in numbers by more than 90 percent since the 1990s. The most significant factor in their decline is the loss of larval and nectar habitat – milkweed in particular – and nectar sources in general.

Monarch survival depends on milkweed; it’s the only plant on which they will lay their eggs. On their way north, the females seek out the plants, deposit their eggs and fly on. Monarch Waystations help ensure they will find milkweed when they need it.

Kruse encourages readers not to rid their yards of milkweed. “I think the desire is always to pull up things you don’t want, but if you have milkweed, you can supplement it with other things. Just the simple gesture of leaving the milkweed can help the monarchs survive,” she said.

Joyce Zeman, wife of St. George’s priest, Father Andrew Zeman, said she was very happy about the Monarch Waystation, “What I like especially is it’s another reason for people to pay attention and be educated about these things,” she said, adding “It gives people a reason to walk around the church, and it provides protection for the butterflies … I like the community outreach.”

MonarchWatch lists two other Middlebury way stations, one at The Nest Daycare and Learning Center and one in the Children’s Garden at the Middlebury Public Library. The Waystation at the Nest was established in 2011. The one at the library was established by the now-disbanded Middlebury Garden Club in 2013.