Attention Tenneesseans: You Can Help The Monarch Butterfly Population Grow

Attention Tennesseans: The Tennessee Department of Transportation is giving away 350,000 packets of milkweed seeds to help monarch butterflies thrive in the Volunteer State.

The TDOT launched Project Milkweed in 2023 and got a huge response to its seed giveaway. Monarch caterpillars need milkweed plants to survive. The monarch population has dropped an estimated 90 percent since 1992, with pesticides and habitat destruction contributing to the decline.

“They are definitely critically threatened,” Mike McClanahan, transportation manager for TDOT’s Highway Beautification Office, told WKRN News 2. "They have not been listed as endangered yet, but they are trending that way just because populations are declining."

According to Project Milkweed, seeds should be planted by October 15 for successful germination. There are two kinds on offer: red (or swamp) milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) for smaller gardens and common milkweed (A. syriaca) for large properties and naturalized areas. The latter spreads aggressively, so it's a good choice for fields and roadsides. You can find an order form—as well as garden plans and planting instructions—at tnpollinators.org.

McClanahan told News 2 that the TDOT has been planting milkweed and other pollinator plants along roadsides for years to try and boost pollinator populations, especially since about 1/3 of the state's crops require pollinators to grow.

“If we don’t have those pollinator species around to take pollen from one plant to another, they don’t mature, they don’t bear fruit, so they’re critically important in that way,” McClanahan said.

So plant some milkweed to help the monarch butterfly—and to get a bumper crop from your vegetable garden.