Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a butterfly. My money says the fluttering insect you’re envisioning has black-veined, reddish-orange wings outlined with white specks – the iconic attributes of our beloved, American, monarch butterfly.
Unfortunately, the species, which populates many childhood memories, is in trouble.
The migrating monarch butterfly was added last week to the “red list” of threatened species and categorized as “endangered” for the first time by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. That’s two steps from extinct in the wild.
Scientists blamed the monarchs’ plummeting numbers on habitat loss, climate change, and pesticide and herbicide use.
What can home gardeners do to support the monarch?