AUGUST I SEPTEMBER 2020 birdsandblooms.com 35

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ONARCH BUTTERFLIES are rapidly declining due

to loss of habitat and use of pesticides. As gardeners

mobilize, planting milkweed is the most effective

way to help because it is the only plant that sustains

a monarch through each of its life stages. It also

produces a chemical that makes monarchs toxic

Mand bitter-tasting to some of their predators.