Helping children preserve and protect the gifts of family, nature, and literacy

Jake and the Migration of the Monarch teaches the importance of milkweed to monarch survival.

• "Even a weed can be beautiful and essential: In spring the monarchs begin their journey north to find a mate and lay their eggs before they die.  Without milkweed monarch butterflies cannot survive. Monarchs lay their eggs only on milkweed leaves, and baby caterpillars only eat milkweed. The milky white liquid in its leaves protects monarch by making them poisonous to predators. Often milkweed is cut down or killed because it is a weed. Instead we can plant more milkweed and help others understand its importance.”
  
  

• There are many varieties of milkweed.  Go to Preserve & Protect to see pictures of some of the different varieties.





• Go to this website to receive free milkweed seeds!





• Notice in these photographs that each flower has five back curved petals and a five part crown which grows upward. Large upright pods of seeds are attached to what some call “hairy parachutes".  The leaves on the milkweed are opposite, oblong and have soft hairs underneath.