For those of you in north Texas…

There are parts of Texas that are now considered to be in a severe drought situation.  You may not realize that Texas is the number two agricultural state. We may have had soaking rains from hurricanes in 2008, but now there are large parts of the state that are experiencing severe drought. The situation is particularly bad in central Texas and the Hill Country. There are many implications from this. One of them is the fact that the dry conditions have severely curtailed the growth of the milkweed plant - the primary source of food for migrating monarch butterflies from Mexico to Canada. The monarchs not only feed on the nectar of the Asclepias, they lay their eggs on milkweed and the larvae vigorously feed on them.

There are many varieties of milkweed, but the one that is most available to us to grow here is Asclepias currasavica, commonly known as Mexican milkweed. As a favor to the monarchs, please take the time to plant one or two in your garden. Once established it is quite drought tolerant, though does need moisture for best performance.  It reseeds readily in a garden that is not heavily mulched.   

Plant some now - the monarch butterflies are on their way!