Got Milkweed!

[Catherine]

There is a real effort being made to save the Monarch Butterflies. Some parts of the campaign are funny.

The April Fools day message was funny and it fooled me.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-...-knitting/
I was prepared to knit. Good thing it is a joke, I am not much of a knitter.

Seriously though, the real campaign is to encourage people to plant milkweed so the butterflies have somewhere to lay their eggs.



I have ordered four plants. That should start a whole bed of milkweed in my yard.
http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/1338657...butterfly/
Milkweed is actually very pretty. It will certainly be great to have the butterflies hanging around my yard.
I need to plant another butterfly bush as well, maybe two.

[Tobi]

In the UK this plant looks a bit different (as far as I can make out) but is also known as 'Petty Spurge' or "Euphorbia peplus'.

Apparently it is also a CURE for non-melanoma types of skin cancer caused by sun damage!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...ancer.html

So for the Monarchs -and for us too, it's a very good plant to cultivate.

[Catherine]

The North American Milkweed and the one you know appear to be from completely different plant families. It is like the bird I call a robin. It is actually a type of thrush and in no way resembles your robin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias

It is interesting that you have a plant that treats skin cancer. I think our plant is a bit toxic. It is however the only thing that monarch butterflies lay their eggs on.
I look forward to planting it in my garden.

[Tobi]

Oh right, I see. It is a totally different plant. Thanks Catherine. I didn't realise that.

It's also called "Milkweed" here. How confusing.

[Catherine]

You probably had the name milkweed first, just like you had the name Robin first. I think your milkweed is more useful to humans. Our milkweed is food for Monarch Butterflies. Other than that it isn't used for anything.

It is hard when a species is dependent on one type of plant. On the other hand, we know what to do to help them.