Raising Monarch Butterflies

Join Lori Smith as she talks about Monarch butterflies. The program will include the life cycle of butterflies, how to raise them, and the native Michigan plants that nourish them. Lori will show how you can help in saving the Monarch butterfly population by growing the plants they eat and lay their eggs on, how to take care of the caterpillars and help them to grow into butterflies.

As weather patterns keep changing, it affects the Monarch butterfly populations. Due to this, Lori may only be able to bring a few live caterpillars to the Library, so you can get a close up look! She will also bring photos and videos of her butterflies. Lori will bring seeds for Common Milkweed & Swamp Milkweed plants and she will have some other Native plants seeds available.

Don't forget you can earn Summer Reading points for attending Library programs!!

Lori has been raising Monarch caterpillars and butterflies for over 9 years and tagging them for 7 years. She tags the Monarch butterflies for the Fall migration to Mexico and had one of her butterflies found in February 2016 in the mountains in Mexico. Lori is also a Native Plant gardener and has been in the St. Clair Shores Yardeners group since August of 2011. In Fall of 2019, Lori completed the Macomb County Master Gardener Program through Michigan State University.