The Wolf River Conservancy Project
Association for Butterflies donated money to The Wolf River Conservancy Project in Memphis, TN www.wolfriver.org which has about 18,000 acres. Memphis is fighting to preserve land and the money donated will go towards purchasing seeds and supplies to plant the Monarch’s Milkweed host plant, swamp milkweed, Asclepius incarnate. Here is a current update on this project:
Exciting News! The Wolf River Conservancy in Memphis, TN has partnered with the Association For Butterflies and the Memphis Zoo to make a Monarch butterfly native milkweed habitat on its land. Monarch butterflies migrate through Memphis in April, and these butterflies look for milkweed to feed their young. And now K…ristin Bobo of Lowe’s Home Improvement store on Germantown Parkway has donated enough mulch to protect all the milkweed beds! Milkweed is germinating now, and seedlings will be planted in late April. We’ll keep you in touch!
The project is going well, although seed germination started late and they won’t know the actual planting date for about 3 weeks. Looks like late April now. All the donated money and some additional money has been spent.
April 22, 2010
The 3 flower beds have been dug and mulched on the Lovett property of the Wolf River Conservancy (WRC). We will plant 180 swamp milkweed seedlings on April 24th-Earth Day. I will speak that morning and would love to be able to release Monarchs, but don’t have any. I may release something else.
I will send their flyer and schedule of events with another email.
There will be two Mature plants planted in every flower bed so all can see how the plants should look in a few years. I have a newpaper journalist writing up the event.
Don’t know yet how we will water them, but I may ask the WRC to help with that, too.
IT is almost finished!
I hope the rabbits don’t eat my seedlings!
Celeste Bursi
Butterflies in Memphis
