KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — Kirksville Area Master Gardeners have given away more than 9,000 milkweed plants since 2014.
The University of Missouri Extension Master Gardeners began promoting milkweed for monarch butterflies in early 2014. Then-chapter president Diane Johnson launched the crusade after reading about the decline of monarch butterfly populations. Since the early 1990s, eastern monarchs have decreased by 80%-90%.
Johnson challenged master gardeners to plant milkweed in their gardens, raise awareness of the monarch decline and serve as information resources for others.
Master gardener Dan Getman said the group quickly realized that they did not have enough milkweed seed and plants to meet the challenge. That first year, chapter members could only order a flat of 32 plants from Monarch Watch, an organization based at the University of Kansas focused on monarch tracking and conservation.
They solved the issue of milkweed availability by partnering with a local nursery, Claire’s Garden, and its owner, Claire Peckosh. Each year, Peckosh grows plants from seed, based on input from the master gardeners.
Volunteer master gardeners repot these seedlings into 4-inch pots, and Peckosh monitors and waters them until mid-May. They then distribute the various species of milkweed. MU Extension horticulture field specialist Jennifer Schutter and Getman say they are grateful for Peckosh’s efforts to sustain the project for 12 years.
From 2014 to 2025, Kirksville Area Master Gardeners provided a total of 9,120 milkweed plants, an average of 760 plants per year, to members, neighbors and other gardening groups.
At its peak, the program provided more than 1,000 plants each year for four years (2017-2020). “We’ve planted milkweed in several city park flower beds that we maintain” said Getman ina press release. Two of those are registered as monarch waystations through Monarch Watch.
The group has presented to civic and gardening groups in Missouri and published articles in the Missouri Extension Garden Talk newsletter. Through these educational efforts, they tell the story of why milkweed and other pollinators are important to staving off declining monarch populations.
Master gardener chapter members also hold an annual plant sale to sell milkweed seed at the Kirksville Farmers Market. This gives them an opportunity to share the story of the monarch butterfly with young and old as they stamp monarch butterfly images on children’s hands, distribute coloring sheets and flip books, and encourage grandparents and parents to raise monarch butterflies and plant butterfly gardens.
Some of the Kirksville master gardeners participate in citizen science projects, including Journey North and the Monarch Tagging Program, both of which track monarch migration, and Project Monarch Health at the University of Georgia, which monitors levels of a protozoan parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, which affects the health of monarchs and their ability to migrate.
In addition to planting milkweed at their homes and in city gardens, several area landowners established acres of native prairie plants, including milkweed and nectar plants, to support monarchs and other pollinators. These plantings are often facilitated by the private landowner contacts at the Missouri Department of Conservation.
More information:
Monarch Watch
Project Monarch Health
Journey North
Monarch Joint Venture
Missouri Department of Conservation
Learn more about MU Extension Master Gardeners in Kirksville-go to https://mg.missouri.edu, or contact the MU Extension Center in Adair County at 660-665-9866.
Comments are closed.