Volunteers Plant Milkweed in Hartley Park

Milkweed is one of the few plants Monarch butterflies will lay eggs on

DULUTH, Minn. – Volunteers spent Saturday planting milkweed at Hartley Nature Center in Duluth.

The park got a grant to plant 196 milkweed plugs at several locations.

Milkweed is one of the only plants Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on.

Monarchs are important pollinators and have recently been disappearing in the Northland.

“I think a lot of times we forget how important plants are, how important small things like butterflies are, but they really are vital to the ecosystem not only here at Hartley Nature Center at the park but all around Duluth, all across the Northland, and really all across the world,” said Matt Willey, Hartley’s Director of Operations.

The City of Duluth, Hartley Nature Center, and the organization Wild Ones coordinated the volunteer effort.