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Create A Monarch Waystation with Midwest Native Plants

 Native Plant Monarch Waystation

For our monarch butterfly planting, we began with a pre-planned monarch garden available from Prairie Nursery. It was designed for a space measuring 50 square feet. We then organized the plants by bloom time and added a few plants to the plan:

MILKWEED (host plants for monarch caterpillars):
3 Butterflyweed for Clay -- blooms June-August
3 Red/Rose Milkweed -- blooms June-July
*4 Purple Milkweed --blooms June-July (added to plan. considered endangered in Wisconsin.)

Nectar plants for monarch butterflies:
*ANNUALS/BIENNIALS: (added to plan to fill in the gaps until the perennials really start blooming)
1 Anise (Lavender) Hyssop -- (blooms June/July-September)
1 Black-Eyed Susan -- (blooms June-Sept)

PERENNIALS: (will return year after year from roots)
*1 Downy/Prairie Phlox (blooms May-June) -- added to plan, since monarchs begin arriving in Wisconsin mid-May 
3 Pale Purple Coneflower (blooms June-July)
3 Purple Coneflower (blooms June-Aug)
3 Prairie Blazingstar (blooms July-Aug)
1 Ironweed (blooms July-Sept)
3 Meadow Blazingstar (blooms Aug-Sept)
2 Sweet Joe Pye (blooms Aug-Sept)
1 Ohio Goldenrod (blooms Aug-Sept)
1 New England Aster (blooms Aug-Oct)

GRASSES (provide shelter):
5 Prairie Dropseed
4 Little Bluestem
.
They start out small, but these plants grow big and will return year after year. Since they're native to the Midwest, they can take all that our climate has to offer and thrive!

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