The city of Leawood is building a haven of wildflowers for migrating monarch butterflies.
The Parks and Recreation department will plant a mix of wildflowers for the butterflies to pollinate as they pass through the region.
The now-endangered butterflies are expected to migrate through Johnson County later this year, after the flowers are planted.
The flowers will take root this spring
- Assistant Parks and Recreation director Brian Anderson said the department will plant the flowers in April.
- The wildflowers will be planted behind the Prairie Oak Nature Center at Leawood’s Ironwoods Park, at 14701 Mission Road.
- The city will also partner with Evergy to restore a grass prairie behind the center that has been disrupted by replaced power lines.
- The incoming mix of flowers includes several types, including common milkweed, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans and blue vervain flowers.
Monarch butterflies are endangered
- In 2022, monarch butterflies moved to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of threatened species.
- This means monarch butterflies face a higher risk of extinction.
- The union noted the western population of monarchs shrunk from roughly 10 million to 1,914 butterflies between the 1980s and 2021.
- Each year, monarchs migrate across the North American continent, fluttering from Canada and the northern U.S. to Mexico to spend winters and then flying back, passing over the Midwest in the process.
Residents can help by planting their own sanctuaries
- Anderson said Leawood residents can help monarch butterflies by planting their own butterfly gardens with things like milkweed and nectar plants.
- The Prairie Oak Nature Center holds seed giveaways in the spring when residents can acquire seeds for native plants.
- “We’re providing the type of plants that these insects and these pollinators need to complete their life cycle and to get food,” Anderson said. “How residents can help really is to consider changing their landscapes and being more native in their approach to what they’re going to plant in their yard.”
Go deeper: Monarch butterflies are now an endangered species. Here’s how Kansas Citians can help
