Monarch butterfly numbers have been at an all time low for the last two overwintering seasons, and many pollinators are declining as well. The widespread planting of herbicide tolerant crops, intensive farming, and the ethanol mandate has led to a rapid loss of habitat. Monarchs and pollinators need our help. By planting milkweeds – the host plants for monarch caterpillars – and nectar plants for adult monarchs and pollinators, you can help maintain the monarch migration and sustain the pollinators whose pollinating services maintain our ecosystems.

In 2013, working with one nursery, we distributed >21,000 plugs. We partnered with two nurseries in 2014 and were able to distribute 59,000 plugs. This past season we worked with 4 nurseries and distributed over 109,000 pesticide-free milkweed plants! We have even bigger goals for the coming year and expect to ship more than 200,000 milkweed plugs. Our plan is to have plugs available for most regions of the country.

We are contracting with native plant nurseries to increase our impact nationwide and continue to seek new partners.

If we don't have milkweeds available for your area, please take advantage of the new vendor listing here in the Monarch Watch Milkweed Market (download vendor PDF file). More than 200 vendors that sell native milkweeds in various regions of the country are currently listed.

In order to keep many species in the Milkweed Market available, we rely on local seed collections from across the country. We have created a Milkweed Regions & Seed Needs section of our Bring Back the Monarchs program. We really need your help to keep this program going! We welcome any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding the new Monarch Watch Milkweed Market. Please feel free to contact us anytime.