The Gilmer County Master Gardeners will welcome a guest speaker to give a full tutorial on a native plant that’s beneficial to butterfly and firefly populations at one of the UGA Extension-sponsored group’s upcoming free programs.
The educational workshop on milkweed will be held Thursday, Feb 1, 6 p.m., at the Gilmer County Library. It’s part of the Gilmer Master Gardeners’ First Thursday program schedule, which will continue at the library the first Thursday of each month until May.
Becky Griffin, with the UGA Mountain Research Station in Blairsville, will give the presentation. Griffin said milkweed, the orange variety of which is commonly known as “butterfly weed,” is the larval plant for monarch butterflies.
The monarch butterfly population has been on a steady decline over the past two decades, Griffin noted. Loss of host plants like several varieties of milkweed and the insects’ natural habitat are among the factors causing this decline.
“Milkweed is a very special plant. Monarch butterflies only lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and it’s also a plant that our native fireflies visit,” Griffin said. “It’s a native plant, so when you plant it, you are adding to the environment something that should already be there.”
Griffin said milkweed is also a tricky plant to get growing and thriving, so she’ll be offering some tricks of the trade in her presentation.
“The seeds are tricky to germinate. Oftentimes, gardeners with good intentions will buy them at the store and put them out in spring, then get upset when they don’t germinate and have blooms,” she said. “What I’ll be teaching is the stratification of milkweed seeds. It’s a technique that’s useful to other types of seeds, not just milkweed.”
Griffin, who’s given past lectures for the local Master Gardener group, is a pollinator health associate for Georgia’s extension service. She heads up the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, a yearly count of pollinator populations in Georgia and other states. Crop research is the main focus at the UGA Mountain Research and Education Center, which is spread over almost 400 acres in Union County, Griffin said.
“It’s been UGA property since 1930,” she added. “We work with researchers from UGA and sometimes N.C. State. We have almost 30 projects a year, (including) research on apples for our apple growers, blueberry research for our blueberry growers and winery research for our wine grape growers.”
Those who attend the Feb. 1 workshop at the library will get to take home some free milkweed seeds to plant and test what they’ve learned.
“If, like me, you’ve tried and failed with milkweed or you’ve been wanting to give it a shot, this workshop is for you,” said Gilmer Master Gardener Volunteer Julie Keller.
Patience also comes in handy when starting the plant from seed, Griffin noted.
“Milkweed blooms all summertime into fall, and it’s a perennial. The (general rule) for perennials is the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. By year three, you should have a very big, robust plant,” she said.