I love books and I was thinking about plants to add to my home landscape. I started perusing Nature's Best Hope by Doug Tallamy.

Doug encourages us to plant native plants and build on our relationship with nature right in our own home landscape. By doing so, we will enjoy unexpected beauty and be charmed by the pollinators that depend on us.

For example, I'm sure that you are aware that monarch butterflies are our state butterfly and that their survival has been challenged for many years. Planting milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars eat, is so important. But do you know how monarchs can eat milkweed leaves that contain toxic cardiac glycosides (similar to digitalis)? They have developed enzymes that make the toxin less toxic and they can store the compounds in their wings and blood, making them less palatable to their predators. Advertising this warning is the universal signal of orange and black, "Don't eat me! I taste bad!"

Our amazing milkweed... They are called "milkweed" because of the sap that oozes from their leaves. When insects bite into a leaf, the sap glues their mouths permanently closed! But the wise monarch caterpillars have found a way to block the flow of sap to the leaves. They start eating at the tip of the leaf (so hungry!) and as soon as sap starts to flow, they immediately stop eating and move to the large midrib of the leaf where they chew, severing the canals that move the sap throughout the leaf. No more flowing sap and they can eat to their heart's content.

Unfortunately, as smart as the monarchs are, they are dependent on milkweed to reproduce. According to Doug, there are 2,137 native plant genera in the United States and monarchs have yet to expand their palate. And I thought my grandson was a picky eater! For millions of years, their food choice remains the same, only macaroni and cheese (oops, that's my grandson!) milkweed.

No milkweed, no monarchs! Fortunately for us gardeners with a sense of style, color preference, etc., there is a wide variety of milkweed plants. Adult butterflies enjoy the nectar of a wider range of plants- coneflower (Echinacea), spotted Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum), lilac (syringa vulgaris), etc. Try to use native plants -- they have evolved along with these butterflies and can provide the most nutrition.

Plant for monarch butterflies and they will come!