Plant More Milkweed For Monarch Butterflies

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Empty milkweed pods in winter, like the ones pictured here, look like beautiful birds to me. And they remind me that milkweed used to be everywhere. As kids, we'd catch its fluffy seeds as they flew by, make a wish and let them go to sow more milkweed.

But these days, we don't have much milkweed around anymore and that's a problem. Monarch butterflies depend upon milkweed to feed their babies and there's not enough of it for them to eat!

Unfortunately, modern weed killers have done too good a job, and eliminated the large stands of milkweed these butterflies depend upon. But we can all help by planting milkweed.

So, why not look around for a place near you to plant some this year?

The bigger the stand of milkweed, the easier it will be for the butterflies to find it as they fly by. That way, you can watch milkweed welcome butterflies in summer who will use it as a nursery; enjoy seeing their babies being born, make wishes on the seeds in fall, and enjoy the pretty pods into winter.