Multiplying Monarchs: A Girl Scout Bronze Project

Plant more milkweed!!!

Milkweed doesn’t just raise monarch caterpillars—it kills invasive lanternflies.

Monarchs can eat milkweed safely, storing its chemicals like living armor that makes them unappealing to predators. Lanternflies? Studies show 60–80% die within 24 hours of contact with common milkweed (SARE Project LNE25-494R).

That matters when lanternflies are costing the U.S. hundreds of millions in crop damage every year.

One plant, two missions: feeding monarchs and fighting pests. Sometimes, the best pest control is already blooming in your garden. 🌿🦋💀

Happy ! Female monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, often on the underside of a leaf near the top of the plant. The eggs are about the size of a pencil tip and are off-white or yellow, featuring longitudinal ridges that run from the top to the base. The eggs hatch approximately four days after being laid. In the wild, female monarchs can lay up to 500 eggs over their lifetime.

Photo of monarch laying egg on common milkweed by Dave Wendelken

Thank you Allentown School District Washington Elementary School for having me visit for the 4th year!
I really enjoy talking to your first graders about Monarch Butterflies and Milkweed!
They always have the best questions 😊

Butterflies aren’t just looking for pretty flowers—they need the right plants to grow! 🌿🦋

Many native plants can serve as host plants, giving butterflies a place to lay their eggs and providing caterpillars with the perfect nutrition to transform into beautiful butterflies.

Our friends at the Penn State Extension offer this great list to know which native plants help butterfly babies thrive. ➡️ http://bit.ly/3YI0LiJ

And this is why Scoot still tries to go into schools and spread the word about monarch butterflies!

Guess it's a good time to post and say, if you would like Scoot to visit your class this school year, comment below and we will get back to you!
Booking for May and June. :)

City of Allentown Allentown School District Allentown Public Library

Study finds butterfly population declined 22% between 2000 and 2020 Butterflies are declining rapidly across the contiguous United States, including in Massachusetts. Research published in the journal Science found reductions in both species diversity and overall numbers.

Unfortunately Scoot was not one of the youths chosen for a piece of this grant. This will not stop her from educating the community but is definitely a huge bummer after putting in all the work submitting this proposal.

Lots of Swamp Milkweed available for purchase!

We have LOTS of swamp milkweed!! Larval host plant for the monarch butterfly 🙂

It's done!
Scoot wrote up a grant proposal today and submitted it. This would help provide her with better ways to improve her presentations to the community!
Fingers crossed 🤞🤞
Recipients will find out in late August.

102 visitors learned the importance of planting milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies today!

July 21st will be her next Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area visit. 🦋 🦋

Thank you to everyone that stopped by the Multiplying Monarchs: A Girl Scout Bronze Project table today at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area ! Scoot has three more scheduled dates this summer if you missed her! Come check out the Dingmans Falls trail and stop in the visitor center to see Scoot on July 6th, July 21st, and August 4th, 11-3 with a 12:30 storytime for all ages!