Archives

• Gardening with Native Plants: The Latest Asters August 30, 2022

  September brings the end of the flowering season as fall arrives in native plant gardens. A few flowers may linger into October, but this month… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Summer Shift August 1, 2022

  August brings mostly warm days, and perhaps subtle cooler hints of fall. It can be a rainy month, or a time when dry conditions deepen. Read more

• Director's Note: Migratory Monarchs Added to IUCN Red List as Endangered Species August 1, 2022

  I spent much of the last week of July talking to reporters about the recent announcement from the International Union for the Conservation of… Read more

• Monarch Butterflies Are Now Endangered. Here's How You Can Help. July 30, 2022

  As the only butterflies known to make a roundtrip migration like birds do, migratory monarch butterflies are used to traveling. Those that live in… Read more

• Monarch Butterflies Have Been Declared Engangered. What Can We Do to Save Them? July 24, 2022

  Ayesha Rascoe speaks with conservation biologist Karen Oberhauser about why the migratory monarch butterfly was just declared endangered, and what can be done in response. Read more

• Monarch Butterflies Are Endangered, Leading Wildlife Monitor Says July 21, 2022

  North America’s monarch butterfly, whose showy looks and extraordinary migration have made it one of the continent’s most beloved insects, has been classified as endangered… Read more

• Arboretum Hosts Native Gardening Conference September 18 July 15, 2022

  Learn Sustainable Gardening Practices and How to Use Native Plants in Home Landscapes The UW–Madison Arboretum will host its 2022 Native Gardening Conference, “Native… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Midsummer Highlights June 30, 2022

  Our native gardens take on a summer look this month. July brings the warmest average temperatures of the year, with a peak average high of… Read more

• Monarch Winter 2021–22 Population Numbers Released June 1, 2022

  On May 24, 2022, the World Wildlife Fund-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance (WWF) and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico (CONANP), released data… Read more

• How to Help Wisconsin's Disappearing Native Bees in Your Yard April 15, 2022

  “The homeland of the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee has shrunk by 90% in the past 20 years, yet the beneficial, fuzzy native… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Emerging Bees, Living Lawns March 31, 2022

  April brings welcome spring to southern Wisconsin. In deciduous woodlands, small spring ephemerals emerge and flower, and tree canopy leaf-out begins. In prairies and savannas,… Read more

• From Minnesota to Mexico: How do monarchs know where and when to go? October 19, 2021

  Monarch butterflies, Minnesota’s official state butterfly, spend their summer throughout the Midwest and migrate to Mexico in the fall to avoid the freezing winters. By… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Spring Plants and Pollinators March 30, 2021

  Even if winter lingers in March, April leads to true spring: longer and warmer days, adequate rainfall, and changing colors as tree buds swell and… Read more

• Monarch Winter 2020–21 Population Numbers Released February 26, 2021

  According to newly released data, the population of monarch butterflies in Mexico wintering sites decreased by 26 percent over last winter. On February 25, 2021,… Read more

• Monarchs and the Endangered Species Act December 15, 2020

  On August 26, 2014, the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and the late monarch expert Dr. Lincoln… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Winterizing the Garden September 29, 2020

  October may bring cool or warm days, sun or clouds, and our first frost of the season. The last few flowers on New England asters… Read more

• Three ways to help save monarch butterflies and other pollinators September 21, 2020

  “Every fall, declining day length triggers one of the most incredible phenomena found in nature: the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies. Across North America,… Read more

• Climate change is playing havoc with Mexico’s monarch butterfly migration January 21, 2020

  No one knows when millions of monarch butterflies began crisscrossing North America, spending their winters clustered on the same… Read more

• Floating like Butterflies September 20, 2019

  Monarch populations have rebounded after years of decline. “What we want,” says Oberhauser, “is for the monarch numbers we’ve been seeing this summer to be… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: How Are the Bees Doing This Season? August 2, 2019

  August brings peak summer bloom and the first hints of fall. In the garden, we are weeding, edging, trimming plants along paths and trails, updating… Read more