The National Wildlife Federation Magazine has an excellent article on butterflies and butterfly habitat in the June/July edition. Entitled, "Restoring Rare Beauties" by Heather Millar, it addresses butterfly habitat and how it is being lost to pollution and development. There are some amazing close up pictures, including one of a Monarch Butterfly wing by a scanning electron microscope.
http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=122&articleID=1596
There is also information on the Butterfly Conservation Initiative, NWF, through its Certified Wildlife Habitat (TM) and schoolyards programs, which encourges development of habitat suitable for butterflies.
http://www.nwf.org/outside
A program to provide what NWF calls "Motels For Monarchs?", the Monarch Waystation Program, helps landowners create and certify planted areas for monarchs that provide reproduction habitats in the summer and refueling islands during migration. The program has already developed over 1,000 waystations in 43 states, according to the article.
http://www.monarchwatch.org
Restoring Rare Beauties article on Butterflies NWF
Thanks, Pam, for the links.
Millar's "Restoring Rare Beauties" article from the NWF was very interesting.
We have our property certified as a NWF habitat.
And we were just certified this year with Monarch Watch. The MW site has lots of good information for those who want to create a garden for Monarchs and other butterflies. Especially seeds and information on how to grow several different kinds of milkweeds.
Tabasco, How wonderful. We have the wildlife habitat certification and I hope we can do the same with Monarch Watch. We were very successful with monarchs in Florida, but I haven't seen any here. We have common milkweed for sure, but I'm not sure whether we have a second or third variety. I went out the other day and couldn't count all the common type, there was so much. We are very slow to get butterflies here. I have seen hundreds and hundreds out on the highways and fields, mostly yellow swallowtails and a few black swallow tails, but not a single monarch. Our property has been used for growing hay for livestock. This is our first full year here and I am amazed that what I thought was a monoculture of grass has many wild flowers when you get up close, but it's not like one of those flower meadows with colorful flowers. It's mostly whites. The butterflies I have seen here at our home are in a big hurry to get somewhere else. I just don't yet have enough diversity among my host and nectar plants. Hummingbirds are not in the numbers I saw just last year either. We had a feeder out in the same place it was last summer, but it was rejected by the hummers this year. I changed out the recipe just in case it had gotten watered down by the rain, but saw one look and turn away without even trying it. Yesterday we put out another. Between then, and now, less than 24 hours, I've seen at least one male and one female use it. Thank goodness. Maybe they just weren't here in any number. It has been a chilly spring up to now. We're going to move the pretty glass HB feeder to another location near a lonicera and see how we do.
Well, it sounds like you have a pretty good place to create a wildlife habitat (and for the butterflies, too).
I am not sure where Nellysford is in VA but I do know that there is a Monarch flightway down through the coastal areas of VA and those people get lots of them.
Good luck with reclaiming your hay fields for a native plants meadow. Sounds like a fascinating project!
Tabasco, Nellysford is in central VA, in the foothills of Blue Ridge Mountains. I don't know that we're up for reclaiming the hay field. It's ten acres and I don't think we have the budget or physical stamina. I would settle for a small area with some colorful medow flowers like poppies, yarrow, bachelor's buttons, another type of milk weed though. Right now, I've got just two strips of newly-made lasagne beds beside my deck facing east and on the rear of the foundation facing south. DH says it's about 80 sq ft in total. It's not the grand design I'd pictured in my dreams, but a place to start. I just had to have something to get some plants and shrubs in the ground. There's plenty more room, just need materials for lightening up the hard clay soil, the motivation to get out there and do it, and cooperative weather. We lived in Charlottesville for about two years while our house was being built, and I'm pretty certain I saw monarchs there. Again, maybe the monarchs will fan out a little now that the weather is warmer. If they like common milkweed, they can find it here. Good luck with your habitats.