Final Update

My overarching purpose of this project was to help perpetuate the Monarch butterfly species. This was inspired by an article in the Native Plant Society of Texas’ website written by Bill Hopkins, in it he said “The Monarch butterfly population has declined to the lowest point in over twenty years according to research scientists.” While many people believe that the reason that we should try to preserve Monarch Butterflies are simply because they serve as pollinators, I believe that while this is true, these beings also have an intrinsic right to exist. This view is not new by any means; probably the earliest spread of a similar idea was represented by The Land Ethic written by Aldo Leopold.

            Anyways, I felt that this should be accomplished by determining what plant species the butterflies need, collecting those species, and planting them. Later on I determined that I needed a vertical garden because of a lack of available space on my property.

            Finding the species was easy, there was a large variety suggested by various sites on the internet so all I had to do was find the species that best fit my needs (low water/maintenance needed). I determined that Cosmos bipinnatus, Impatiens balsamina, Zinnia elegans, and Asclepias curassavica. After I accomplished that I ordered my species online. While they were on their way I built my vertical garden, which was actually accomplished with waste materials from my place of work. So I accomplished that and filled it with soil from an experiment I did at school.

            Recently I planted my plants and now I am waiting on them to grow. Once they do I can cover the face of the vertical garden with a fabric that is designed to keep everything from falling when I hang it up while still allowing the plants to sprout. With all of this done I have accomplished every goal except for actually hanging the garden outside for the migrating butterflies. I will do that before the Fall so that I can catch the Monarchs on their migration south.

Update 5-1-14

  To be honest, this week I didn't read about butterflies. What I focused on reading about were bees. This started out as an inquiry into the relationships of the various species of pollinators, but developed into a strong interest in bees. With an estimated 20,000 species of bees out there I found myself endlessly interested with the adaptations of bees.
  What I managed to do for my project was order my last species of flowers, which included the following species: Cosmos bipinnatus, Impatiens balsamina, and Zinnia elegans. These species were named as good pollinators by Monarchwatch.org. The way I plan to plant them is in a series of four layers descending from shortest to tallest, that will be Zinnias above Impatiens; Impatiens above Cosmos; Cosmos above Milkweeds. This is so that they all get plenty of sun. I will not lie, though, I am worried that they may be unable to support themselves when I finally hang them up. I will be working on a possible solution for that while these grow.

April 25, 2014 update

I finished up the form for the garden on Monday, and proceeded to waterproof it with plastic on Wednesday. All in all it took me about 4 hours to get that finished up. I have planted the milkweed seeds that I have earlier this week into a couple of seed starters. I will move them once I get the soil from the greenhouse into the form. I will try to do that next week, as I am very busy this weekend.

Update 4-9-14

  This week I was lucky enough to find the perfect pieces of wood for the construction of the garden where I work. So, I have those measured and cut, which took me about 4 hours all together because I have been working with a hand saw. I also managed to get seeds for Bloodflower Milkweed, an absolutely essential component of the monarch butterfly garden because Milkweeds are the only plants that Monarchs will lay their eggs on.
  Now I need to get some glue and paint so that I can finish construction. Next, I need to get the nectar plants that I will need. I plan on having that done pretty quickly.

Update 4-8-14

  This week I was lucky enough to find the perfect pieces of wood for the construction of the garden where I work. So, I have those measured and cut, which took me about 4 hours all together because I have been working with a hand saw. I also managed to get seeds for Bloodflower Milkweed, an absolutely essential component of the monarch butterfly garden because Milkweeds are the only plants that Monarchs will lay their eggs on.
  Now I need to get some glue and paint so that I can finish construction. Next, I need to get the nectar plants that I will need. I plan on having that done pretty quickly.

Update 3-27-14

  Up until recently I have been planning to make a vertical garden much like the one that home depot demonstrated here. But after looking at the height of many of the plants that I would like to plant, I realized that this particular format will most likely not work, given that most of the plants reach a height of 3 feet.
  Right now, I am look toward a modified version of the method seen in this video. I envision a wall with similar outlets that would allow the plants to have enough room to grow to full height. I don't know how I will do that, but I will figure it out.

Progress

  Today I have been fortunate enough to find some wood that i can use in the construction of the vertical monarch butterfly garden. Yes, the vertical aspect is new. I though that i would have the garden in my back yard but my parents decided that they wanted to garden this year, the first time in 11 years. So, the only place to go is up. The wood is actually scrap wood from a nearby construction site, so thanks to them this is possible.
  I have a list of species that I would like to try to plant, here is a sample:

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata subsp. pulchra)
Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)

Mexican sunflower
Lantana
Pentas
Zinnia
Porterweed
Ironweed

Verbena
Buddleia
Caryopteris
Vitex
Goldenrod
Gayfeather

perwinkles
Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)
Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)
Tithonia Torch, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
Zinnia, Dahlia Mix (Zinnia elegans)
blue mist-flower (Conoclinium coelestinum)
Gregg’s mistflower (C. greggii)
white mist flower (Ageratina havanensis)
coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
white honeysuckle (L. albiflora)
crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)
passion flower (Passiflora sp.)
antelope-horns milkweed (Asclepias asperula)

I should also mention that I plan to make the face of this garden at least 15 square yards. If all goes to plan, I may actually be able to get this garden certified as a Monarch Butterfly Way station.

Roughing out my goals

  I have actually come across the idea for this project on The Native Plant Society of Texas' website. With statements like, "The Monarch butterfly population has declined to the lowest point in over twenty years according to research scientists." I can't help but feel that this would be a great project to spend my time on.
  I feel like the best thing that I can do as of now is to create a sort of way station with the native species that the Monarchs are losing access to, as described in this quote from Lincoln Bower, a biologist of Sweet Briar College, "and the growth of herbicide-based agriculture destroying crucial milkweed flora in the Midwest."
  With that being said, my initial goals will be directed toward the following: determining the appropriate species of plants needed by the monarchs, collecting them, and planting them. Along the way I will definitely learn more about the Monarchs, and their associated plants. By next week I want to have solidified goals ready and begin working towards achieving them before April, which is when the first Monarch sitings were recorded in Spring 2013.