The 21st Annual “This is My Mexico” Children’s Art Contest, brought to you by the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), is open for submissions until Friday, October 13, 2017.

The theme of this year’s contest is “The Monarch and its Lifecycle in North America”.

The contest is an invitation for all children ages 6 - 14 “to know and draw the Monarch, its habitat and migration through three countries, the stages of its life and all the challenges it faces on its path to fulfill its destiny.” Drawing and paintings made with the materials of the artist’s choice must be submitted on a 12” x 12” square cardboard or artboard, with the registration form attached to the back.  Artwork may be submitted to the nearest Mexican Embassy, Consulate of Mexico or Delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by the October 13 deadline.

Twelve winning artworks and fifty “honorable mentions” will be selected from around the world to receive prizes and be published in the Institute of Mexicans Abroad 2018 calendar. These sixty-two pieces will also comprise an itinerant exposition that will debut in Mexico City, then travel around the world for display.  

All winners will be announced online Monday, Nov. 14.

Download the entire information packet, with contest rules and the entry form, here, or visit www.ime.gob.mx/esteesmimexico2017, where this information may be found in Spanish.

Gardening for butterflies is an honorable undertaking. Whether you are a first-time gardener or an experienced one, you should know that all gardening is a great experiment. Do not be discouraged if at first you do not succeed, have difficulty finding native plants, or do not produce a bumper crop of caterpillars right off the bat. Trust that in Nature’s perfect timing, butterflies will find your garden and reward your efforts.

If you are looking for expert recommendations or seek to join a group of like-minded butterfly enthusiasts, the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) has chapters across the country.  NABA is a nonprofit environmental education and conservation organization, and a founding member of the Monarch Joint Venture.  Even without joining, you may access the chapters’ Regional Gardening Guides and the NABA website which provides Butterfly Gardening resources and helpful, how-to information.

Once your garden is established, you may choose to celebrate with formal certification of your special, butterfly habitat.  Proudly displaying your Butterfly or Monarch Garden sign will help educate and encourage others to learn more and, perhaps, plant more. The application is easy and entitles your sight to be added to the national map of certified habitats.

Make sure you SHARE your Monarch and garden photos with us, to document your achievement and foster greater appreciation of wild butterflies!

This incredible plant features one of nature’s most complex flowers, comparable only to the magnificent orchid. The Monarch appears to be fashioned for this flower, since the anatomy of it can form a deathtrap for smaller butterflies, bees and wasps lacking the power to pull free of the ‘hood and horn’ structures that hold and protect the sought-after pollinia, or pollen sacs.  The five pair of hood-and-horn structures that form the corona, or crown, of the flower are also useful in identifying milkweed species, whose blossoms vary by size, shape and color.

Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist known as “the father of modern taxonomy,” named the milkweed family Asclepias, after the Greek god of healing, Asclepius, during the 18th Century. Although milkweed sap is caustic and generally toxic to most creatures, it also contains the organic compound cardiac glycoside, which acts on the contractile muscles of the heart and has practical human applications for the treatment of arrhythmia and congestive heart failure.  The more we learn about Monarchs and their caterpillars, the more we understand how this critical host plant also serves as a natural pharmacy for this species.

The seeds of the milkweed are produced in a follicle that may be as big as a thumb. When this pod dries, it splits open and the seeds burst forth; then they are blown across the area, carried on the wind by the fluffy, white floss attached to each seed.  This hairy filament, or coma, is commonly called American silk and is commercially-valued for use in super-absorbent industrial filters, as well as thermal and acoustic insulation.

How to Create Monarch Habitat

In case you’ve missed the message: MONARCHS NEED MILKWEED.  

If you want to play a vital role in restoring the North American Monarch population, create habitat for them.

There is a “magic formula” for butterfly gardens.

1. The area you plant should be at least 100 square feet;

2. Contain at least three nectar and three host plants; and

3. Provide a place for caterpillars to make their chrysalis.

For Monarchs, a productive and successful garden should include one or more species of milkweed, and a tree or trellis for caterpillars to use when they are ready to assume the J position and form their chrysalis.  

Caterpillars need to get away from their host plant and the ravages of their hungry kin for the best chance at making it to the next stage in their lifecycle.  If you cannot plant a tree, or place your garden around one, take advantage of a nearby fence or add a garden bench to give the caterpillars a “safe space.”

For special assistance in designing a butterfly garden where you live, please contact the Native Plant Society in your state.  Many have monthly meetings and regular plant sales. They should be willing to share their expertise and may also be able to direct you to local resources for clean, “green” plants that are herbicide and pesticide free.  

Make sure you SHARE your Monarch photos and certified habitats with us, to document your achievement and foster greater appreciation of wild butterflies!

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We’re sharing sample Planting Guides for both Full Sun and Partial Shade, with a selection of plants native to deep South Texas.  These are examples designed to help you design an environmentally-appropriate garden with plants native to your region.

The guides incorporate plants for a tiered landscape design featuring groundcover, low, flowering plants, woody shrubs and trees for variety and visual interest. Color, texture and contrast are all important aspects of the artful garden, which can be as beautiful as the butterflies it will attract.

The National Butterfly Center has a native plant nursery that grows 60-80 species for retail, wholesale and contract. Please visit our website to see what may be available, and call or come in to see what is in stock at any time. Members receive special discounts.

Open 7 days/week NationalButterflyCenter.org 956.583.5400

Stop! Don't Spray Me!

Too often, people mistake the hungry “worms” devouring their gardens plants for pests, instead of recognizing them as baby butterflies (and sometimes moths).  If you choose to spray them with pesticide to save your plant, neither the caterpillars nor the plant will fulfill their destiny.  After all, caterpillars are not some strange, destructive parasite; they are simply butterflies in a different stage of their lifecycle.

Caterpillars and host plants go together like April showers and May flowers. They are designed to work together in a way that promotes growth and beauty. With milkweed, for example, caterpillars may consume all of the leaves on a plant, leaving only the bare stalk—but this does not destroy the plant.  The plant has served one part of its purpose, and this process initiates re-growth and flowering.

As the plant puts out new leaves and buds, the caterpillar forms its chrysalis and prepares to emerge (eclose) in about 14 days.  Anticipating the arrival of the adult monarch, the milkweed prepares to burst into bloom.  Flowering leads to pollination and seed creation that will eventually produce more milkweed plants to support generation after generation of Monarchs!

For us to help the Monarch rebound, we must restore native plant habitats with lots of milkweed and seasonal nectar. Why not start your own garden and observe the remarkable relationship between plants and butterflies first-hand?

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Native milkweeds are most commonly found in the wild. Some are easy to locate, transplant and/or cultivate, while others are not. All native milkweeds are becoming more scarce in the wild as the result of severe weather conditions such as drought, land development and the widespread use of herbicides. Wholesale habitat destruction and, specifically, the disappearance of native milkweeds may be the greatest challenge Monarchs face for survival. In order to give Monarchs a fighting chance, we need to reverse this trend and restore the native landscape, wherever possible.

In deep south Texas, our most common native milkweed is the Zizotes Milkweed (Asclepias oenortheroides). It is locally referred to as ‘Hierba de Zizotes’, as well as Prairie milkweed, Longhorn milkweed, Side-cluster milkweed, Primrose milkweed and Lindheimer's milkweed.  

Finding the appropriate native milkweeds in a nursery can be confusing when these highly-regional plants all seem to have highly-regional common names. For help identifying milkweed species that may be found in your region, try iNaturalist for crowdsource identification, or the USDA ‘map of milkweed’.  Write down the scientific name of the species (usually shown in parenthesis and italicized,) before you go shopping as this will make finding the right milkweed at the farmer’s market or local nursery much easier.

To complicate matters further, native milkweeds can be difficult to propagate and may not be available for sale. For this reason, the National Butterfly Center and the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge System are working together to survey lands for our Zizotes and other native milkweeds, collect seed for germination, establish a native milkweed seed bank, and propagate 10,000 seedlings for transplant in the Southernmost Monarch Waystation, a project funded by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

CAUTION: Milkweeds are so named for the milky white sap they produce. This substance may be toxic if ingested and irritating to the skin. It is caustic to the eyes and will result in a chemical burn with the potential for permanent damage; so be very careful when handling milkweed.

Resources:

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center and Texas Parks & Wildlife’s Identification of Milkweed in Texas

Monarchs are in need of habitat that will sustain their lifecycle. This means they need host plants (milkweed) and seasonal nectar plants that will bloom in the spring, summer and fall.  

Mostly, Monarchs need native milkweed. You can help Monarchs reproduce and population numbers rebound by creating breeding and feeding areas that include milkweed in your home garden, schoolyard or public landscape.  

When planting for Monarchs, it is important to purchase or grow milkweed free of herbicides and pesticides that may poison and kill the caterpillars that must feed on it. Preferably, you will plant milkweed that belongs in your area and will do well in your climate zone and soil type. To learn more about the best milkweed and host plants where you live, contact your state’s Native Plant Society.

Native plants are loosely defined as plants that would have been found growing in an area at least 300 years ago, or before the arrival of European settlers. These plants are said to be naturally endemic to peculiar geographic regions, and some may have been present during the Holocene Epoch, which began just after the last Ice Age.  Native plants tend to be hearty and especially useful to wildlife, including butterflies.

Click here to learn more about gardening for Monarchs.