May 1, 2025
Pollinator Plots, Butterfly Gardens, and Monarch Waystations, Oh MY!
Pollinator gardens consist of plants that attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. They do this by the production of nectar and pollen. Some common features of pollinator gardens are pesticide/insecticide bans and removal of invasive species. But there are other things that can make your pollinator garden unique. Native grasses can be a part of your pollinator garden. While most pollinator gardens are made of native perennial forbs (flowering plants), some gardeners like to also include annuals full of nectar. Pollinator gardens can come in all sizes from small to colossal. Pollinator gardens can also specialize with more sun or heat loving plants, or you might consider plants that need more cool and shady conditions.
An interesting specialty is a garden that contains host plants for specific butterflies. Examples are Golden Alexanders that are host plants for black swallowtails, and Pearly Everlasting plants that are hosts for the American Lady. The Painted Lady has several hosts including Blazing Star, Asters, and Ironweed. The monarch butterfly also has a host plant which is milkweed. This plant is also a good source for nectar used by other butterflies.
There are over 100 varieties of milkweed with several native to Minnesota. The most common milkweeds in Minnesota are swamp (doesn't need a swamp), butterfly weed (not a weed and has orange flowers), and common (the type most people know). Other less common or threatened milkweeds include: poke, sullivant's, showy or whorled. Monarchs will only lay eggs on milkweed, and the ensuing caterpillar will only eat milkweed. So, if there were no milkweed, there would be no monarchs.
Monarch Watch (monarchwatch.org) runs a program that certifies Monarch Waystations. There are 49,000+ certified Monarch Waystations in the US. 1,422 of them are in Minnesota, and 112 of them are in Duluth. You can find them at schools, places of worship, retirement homes, businesses, community gardens, community parks, golf courses, nature centers, farms, and homes. A pollinator garden can be certified as a Monarch Waystation if it includes milkweed plants.
Tom Uecker
EcoFaith Network NE MN Team & Pollinator Plot Steering Committee
Duluth, MN
Northeastern Minnesota Synod
Tom grew up in Meriden, Minnesota with a lifelong love of monarch butterflies after successfully raising one as a child. During his career as a special education teacher, he began each school year raising the last (migratory) generation of monarchs with help from his students. After retirement, Tom was able to visit the winter home of the monarchs in the mountains of Mexico.
Tom has been doing programs on monarch butterflies for the last 30+ years at state parks, schools, churches and other sites. He is a founding member of Duluth Monarch Buddies, which now includes 112 Monarch Way Stations in Duluth.
He has been a member of the NE MN EcoFaith Network Leadership team (formerly the NE MN Synod Creation Care Team) since its inception and is an active member on the Synod Pollinator Plot steering committee.