📣 Eastern Monarchs UP to Start '25 Season 🦋

Population Estimate DOUBLES from last year, but...

March 08, 2025

Hello Flutter Friend, some surprising news was just released, that brings some hope to the eastern monarchs for spring 2025.

The monarch population counted from overwintering grounds in Mexico is estimated to be double that from last season. See the graph comparisons and how this year’s estimate compares to the eastern estimates of the past 30 seasons:

As gardeners, planting natives and non-invasive annuals/perennials is key to continuing this positive population trend. Here are 5 butterfly plants we’re adding to our garden this season to attract and support more monarchs…

Butterfly Plant List for 2025

In your last newsletter, I shared our entire butterfly plant list page. This week, I’m sharing some of the new plants we’re adding to our 2025 garden and why we’re adding them:

  1. Pinky Winky Panicle Hydrangeas

    Perennial for hardiness zones 3 to 8. I witnessed last fall these being swarmed by pollinators, which I have never seen on hydrangea shrubs before. There is also a newer pinky winky ‘prime’ but I’m fairly certain the one I saw was the original. I might purchase both to compare the results…if I choose one, it might be the slightly larger prime if we choose to double as a privacy hedge 🤔

  2. Conoclinium Greggii OR Ageratum Houstonianum ‘Blue Horizon’


    Greggii is a PROVEN monarch magnet, but an annual for northern regions. While ‘Blue Horizon’ is also an annual, it’s a prolific spring seeder, even in the bold north…I will probably plant both this upcoming season to ensure SOME success with monarchs.

    For those wondering about native Conoclinium Coelestinum (wild ageratum), it attracts far fewer butterflies than the two species listed above. Because it’s also a prolific seeder, we pulled most of it last fall.

  3. Calamintha nepeta

    I saw this white savory catmint in home depot last year and it was covered with bees
     

  4. Cutleaf coneflowers

    These were a major monarch magnet in our last garden, but have not added this native plant back to our new garden.

  5. Confetti or Grandpas pumpkin patch lantana

    In Minnesota, we typically find smaller lantana varieties so I search online vendors to find varieties that are hard to source locally.

More more info on how to support monarchs this upcoming season:

Have a Good Weekend and Don’t forget to Spring FORWARD 🕒

Tony G 😚