Gardening
and Median Strip
Clean up and care of the median strip is
an ongoing process, which the board supports both
financially and with many volunteer hours.
We maintain the large grassy median in the 7600 block of
Knollwood Road and the smaller triangluar median in the
7500 block of Knollwood Road as will as a traffic
calming island in the 800 block of Stevenson Lane.
It is one of our most visited and visible areas. We have
a lovely display of spring bulbs, summer perennials and
fall mums.
Thanks to all who take the initiative and voluntarily
clean up the area, particularly Terry Westhead and Fay
Citerone.
Knollwood-Donnybrook's Monarch Butterfly Project
In the spring of 2009 we offered host
plants and flowers for Monarch Butterflies at cost to
our neighbors.
Ideally the spot you pick in your yard
should receive 4-6 hours of sunlight in the summer.
Since these plants are native to this area of Maryland
the soil usually suits them fine, amending the soil with
good compost is always helpful though.
Asclepias tuberosa, is butterfly weed,
has an orange flower and likes lots of sun and can
tolerate drought very well. Asclepias incarnata is swamp
milkweed, has a pink flower and does prefer to be in
moist soil, however I planted it in our median strip
last summer and it did fine as long as it was watered
once in a while.
We are focusing on host plants and nectar
sources for all the life stages of the Monarch
Butterfly. Host plants are plants that monarch
butterflies lay their eggs on. When monarch larvae hatch
from their eggs they are caterpillars and need to eat
milkweed leaves to support their growth. Milkweed plants
have milky sap inside so that when the caterpillars eat
the leaves it makes them distasteful to birds and other
things that might eat them. There are very few other
plants they can survive on. Nectar sources are the
plants that provide nectar and nutrition for adult
butterflies. Both nectar source plants and host plants
are very important to the survival of monarch
butterflies so we should try to plant some of each.
Fortunately, milkweed plants provide both nectar and
food for larvae.
A few additional nectar sources that
provide beauty and nectar are:
Gaillardia spp., (blanket flower)
Monarda (bee balm)
Nepeta, (catmint)
Echinacea (purple coneflower)
Rudbeckia spp. (Black-eyed Susan)
Coreopsis (yellow coreopsis)
At some time in the summer you may notice
many leaves have disappeared from your milkweed plants,
this is a good sign that monarch caterpillars are
present on your plants. You should see them easily near
the end of their larval life cycle; they are about the
size of an adult’s pinkie finger. What may be tricky to
find is the chrysalis the caterpillar forms during its
resting stage so it may transform into a butterfly. You
can usually find them on a nearby plant at the base of
the plant so they are hidden.
Revised: 11/16/09 |
