Nebraska Monarchs

09/04/2026

What are your favorite late summer flowers?

09/01/2026

Below is a newly emerged monarch that would have gone completely unnoticed if not for good timing and pretty much sheer luck. The chrysalis (also in the picture) was on a beardtongue plant in a sea of green. Even after spotting the newly emerged butterfly, it took an embarrassingly long time to find its chrysalis.

And here is the point - monarch caterpillars are crafty, even sometimes hiding in plain sight. Don’t get discouraged if caterpillars "disappear" and you don’t find chrysalises because that certainly doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. Keep planting milkweed and other nectar-producing plants for the pollinators, and trust that nature will take care of the rest. And if you are lucky, you might get to be a witness to something truly spectacular. ❤️

08/28/2026

Please help spread the word! Many people start to clean out garden beds this time of year and can accidentally pull out honeyvine milkweed containing monarch eggs and caterpillars.

While we generally don't recommend purposely growing honeyvine milkweed in urban/suburban settings (swamp, butterfly, showy, and whorled are much better options), many times it volunteers itself and will quickly have monarch egg and/or caterpillar activity on it.

Helping people identify honeyvine milkweed and asking them to temporarily allow it to grow if there *is* monarch activity, can help us increase the overall monarch population! ❤️

The Importance of Honeyvine Milkweed During Fall Monarch Migration

08/24/2026

Alright all of you citizen scientists out there - we need your observations! We have reports that swamp and common milkweed are the favorites being used by caterpillars during north migration during early summer, but people are seeing an uptick of other milkweed species (whorled, butterfly, honeyvine) being used by caterpillars around this time of year.

Our question is - for those of you who have **multiple** types of milkweed, have you noticed caterpillars are preferring one over the other during early summer vs later summer?

08/22/2026

We are kind of obsessed with these late summer colors. What is catching your eye in your garden?

08/11/2026

POV: That small native garden in your front yard is actually making a difference.

08/09/2026

Monarch mania! We have been seeing an increase in monarch sightings in the past few days. Anyone else experiencing the same?

08/07/2026

It's Flower Friday! What is catching your eye in your garden this week?

08/05/2026

Today's moment of zen: two monarch caterpillars enjoying butterfly milkweed

08/04/2026

Awesome new resource alert!

The Xerces Society created a new online resource to increase awareness of native plants that support monarchs. Simply enter your location on plantsformonarchs.org to generate native plants near you known to be important for monarchs as nectar or host plants. A profile of each plant includes a photo and map of where the species occurs, along with species attributes such as height, color, bloom time, soil moisture needs, and more. You can filter the list by these plant attributes to help you choose what to get, as well as by those that can be used in xeriscaping or have high curb appeal.

Link: https://plantsformonarchs.org/

Plants for Monarchs. Find the Right Plants for Monarchs in Your Area. By the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.