Planting Community Seeds
Milkweed Giveaway
As a direct result of the Lights Off, Fireflies On! campaign that started in the summer of 2023, an enhanced initiative around milkweed is in full force in Fannin County! On May 1st, expert entomologist and friend of the Chamber, Becky Griffin with UGA Extension, taught a class at the Chamber about the importance of native milkweed and everyone was able to stratify milkweed seeds to take home.
Why milkweed? It’s extremely important to the protection of fireflies [and also monarch butterflies]. Milkweed plants contain cardiac glycosides, which are distasteful to insect predators. When fireflies consume parts of the milkweed plants, they are also consuming cardiac glycosides which give the fireflies a defense against predators.
What is stratification? Milkweed seeds need cold stratification, a period of cold and wet, before they germinate. It helps break the seeds natural dormancy cycle. Cold stratification can be done using a damp paper towel or clean sand with water. Either way, you will place the seeds within the paper towel or sand in a zip lock bag. Then place the bag in the refrigerator for 30-45 days.
Over the past few months, Becky has taught the skill of stratifying seeds to students from Mr. Seth Davis’s Fannin High Agriculture classes and Mrs. Tori Arp’s 7th and 8th grade Middle School STEM classes. They have stratified and grown milkweed plants as a community project, and on May 10th, over 600 plants grown by these students were given away to the public. Both the Butterfly (Asclepias tuberosa) and Rose/Swamp (Asclepias incarnata) milkweed plants were given away.
These milkweed plants are perennials, and as Becky tells us, “Be patient if the plants stay small the first year. The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap!”
Continue to help our precious firefly population by planting milkweed! And don’t forget to eliminate unnecessary night lights. Lights off, Fireflies on!
Explore more information about fireflies and milkweed plants at https://fireflieson.com/ or if you have any questions, contact Becky Griffin directly at beckygri@uga.edu.
To further the effort, at the event, we shared information about Starry Skies South and Dark Skies International, which is an organization that works to restore the nighttime environment and protect communities from the harmful effects of light pollution. More information can be found at https://www.starryskiessouth.org/and at https://darksky.org/.