As a little girl, I would wander nearby farm fields in search of milkweed plants. The plants lined corn fields and hedgerows and every time I saw one, a feeling of excitement came over me. I would inspect every leaf on the milkweed plant and hope that I would find a beautiful monarch caterpillar. I would find caterpillars that were so tiny you could barely see them and others were hard to miss because of their enormous size! Nonetheless each caterpillar grew to be a beautiful monarch butterfly.

The monarch butterfly, with its vibrant orange coloring and black markings, is the most recognized butterfly in North America. There are more than 100 million monarch butterflies, but human activities have put the population at risk. The construction of new roads, housing developments, use of pesticides by gardeners, farmers and homeowners has destroyed Monarch habitat, leaving the butterfly with less nectar and host plants.

Butterflies relay on plants for nectar as well as laying eggs and supporting their caterpillars (host plants). Nectar plants include: shrubs (azalea, lilac, sumac and viburnums), annuals (cosmos, zinnias, and alyssum), perennials (asters, bee balm, butterfly weed, daisy, phlox, coneflower and sedum) and non-cultivated perennials (milkweed, thistle and yarrow).

Milkweed is both a nectar source and a host plant for the Monarch. This plant is extremely beneficial to the monarch butterfly and caterpillar. Monarch butterflies exclusively lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. When the larva, also known as caterpillars, emerges from the egg it begins feeding on milkweed leaves. The caterpillar continues to do so for two weeks. After this, the caterpillar will attach itself to the plant's stem or branch and begin the transformation into a chrysalis (or pupa). After 14 days, the adult monarch butterfly will emerge.

As butterflies, monarchs live between two and six weeks. However, the last generation of the year (late summer) may live up to eight to nine months. These late summer butterflies go into what is called reproductive diapause, which means they cannot reproduce. That is until spring arrives. In the spring, the monarchs will become mature and reproduce, starting the new first generation that make their way north.

Monarchs cannot tolerate our cold winters and must migrate south (Mexico) in late summer to survive the winter temperatures. Nectar plants provide them energy for this flight, and host plants create new generations; but due to the reasons listed, nectar and host plants are not as plentiful as they once were.

You can help sustain and increase the monarch population by creating a monarch waystation at your home, school or place of work. A monarch waystation is a place that provides resources necessary for monarchs to produce successive generations and sustain their migration. To get your waystation started, as well as register and certify your site, log onto www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/.

For more information, call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County at 255-1183.

Renee Jensen is a community educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County