FRANKFORT, Ill. - An Illinois woman who leads the nonprofit “Milkweed for Monarchs” initiative is offering free or discounted milkweed seed to farmers and gardeners in an effort to increase vanishing pollinator habitat. According to Kay MacNeil of Frankfort (located approximately 28 miles south of Chicago in Will and Cook counties), monarch butterfly numbers have decreased by as much as 90 percent due to loss of habitat from urban sprawl and modern agriculture. 

“This is the state insect of Illinois. This is the beloved icon of the Midwest. We need milkweed in every garden and along the roadsides of America,” said McNeil, who is offering free milkweed seed samples to those willing to pay the postage fee for delivery.

She noted that milkweed plants are among the only plants Monarch butterflies will lay their seeds on. There are around 10 species of milkweed that can be grown in Illinois.

MacNeil, who began her Milkweed for Monarch campaign a few years back as president of the Prestwick Area Garden Club, nets no profit from her milkweed campaign. Her goal is to increase public awareness of the demise of monarchs and encourage the distribution of milkweed seed — a task she coordinates from her kitchen and garage. 

To acquire seed, MacNeil collects milkweed pods from gardeners all over the state. “I pile it up in my garage in big banana boxes and keep handing it off. In September and October people will start bringing me milkweed pods again,” she told Farm World in 2018. “All anyone who wants a box of milkweed pods has to do is call and tell me about their project. I mail it out to them free and all they have to do is send me back reimbursement for the postage. The joke in this house is I am pretty sure I am covering my costs but the husband is pretty sure I am not.”

MacNeil also offers tutelage on the different varieties of milkweed and how they can best be utilized. For instance, common milkweed can develop a root system of up to 12 feet in length and should only be planted where plenty of land is available, she advises. However, growers will be rewarded with four-foot-tall pink, fragrant flowers in umbels, and, quite likely, a steady stream of pollinators including monarch butterflies.

For those with less ground to spare, swamp milkweed has less invasive roots and grows to just three feet tall, as does butterfly weed. Also called “hello yellow,” butterfly weed “are very behaved perennials,” according to MacNeil. “Tuberosa butterfly weed has a root like a carrot and blooms from June to August. Plant these close to the house to see monarchs lay their eggs under the leaf.”

Another variety, tropical milkweed, grows to just 24-36 inches. “Sow these seeds in the spring after the final frost. An annual re-seeding may be required until your stand is established,” MacNeil advises.

For samples of three kinds of milkweed (varieties vary as to what is available) and instructional literature, send $3 cash and a stamped, self addressed business sized envelope to Milkweed For Monarchs Director Kay MacNeil, 689 Golf Club Ln., Frankfort, Ill., 60423. To receive 100 packets of milkweed seed and copies of all milkweed literature, send a check made out to Kay MacNeil for $55. 

Landowners who wish to receive bulk common (asclepias syriaca) milkweed in pods for big acreage projects should phone MacNeil (815-469-1294) and describe your big acreage project-- and promise not to mow until October-- and she will ship you free milkweed seed pods. In return, MacNeil asks those receiving free milkweed seed to return a check for the metered postage on the top of the box.

More info: www.milkweedformonarchs.info. MacNeil may also be reached at    kaymac60423@yahoo.com.