Your Letters

This month, a reader says we can do more to promote the beautiful monarch butterfly -- starting with renaming the food of its larvae: milkweed.

I was interested to see you chose butterflies for this year’s NatureWatch theme. I have been trying to encourage butterflies, and specifically monarchs, for years.

I notice that milkweed is considered a noxious weed. Its very name has a bad image: a weed. And yet without milkweed, monarch butterflies could not survive. They must have the plant in order to lay eggs, it is the only food monarch caterpillars can eat.

I was wondering if you could promote milkweed in your publications? Most of the people I speak with are not aware of how specialized monarchs are in requiring milkweed for their survival. They would not recognize the plant if they saw it. At our cottage, where a tiny patch of milkweed survives, it keeps getting broken down because its value isn't recognized.

I wonder is there is way that milkweed could be renamed? Some ideas my family thought up include "monarch flower" and "monarch's milk". I think if the plant were renamed, people would not hesitate to plant it in their gardens, and give monarchs a helping hand.

Thank for any help you can give.

Nancy Moysiuk, received via email

Thank you for the interesting – and well-timed – email, Nancy! I hope you and our readers will enjoy the story in this issue about the “milkweed butterfly, How to grow your own butterfly garden. How about it readers? Would you call milkweed something else, or do you like it the way it is? Let us know!

Questions? Comments? Send your letters to Nature Canada at info@naturecanada.ca.