Help monarch butterflies by collecting common milkweed seeds for WCCD

Washtenaw County Conservation District is collecting common milkweed seeds in Washtenaw County from now until November 18, 2022.

Their milkweed efforts will support Pollinator Partnership’s Project Wingspan program, a grassroots Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project sponsored by the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This program is designed to support Monarch butterflies, and declining pollinators and insects, and, in turn, birds, by way of enhancing their habitat with flowering native plants. This is a grassroots effort because they rely on volunteers to collect the seeds they distribute free of charge to shovel-ready pollinator habitat projects.

How to collect and drop off your milkweed seeds:

1. Before you harvest common milkweed pods, make sure they are brown or gray in color and that the center seam pops with gentle pressure. Green pods indicate the seeds inside are not mature yet.

2. Once your pods are ready, remove the seeds and place in a paper bag or envelope. Please do not put in a plastic bag.

3. Mark your paper bag or envelope with the address or location of where the milkweed seed was collected.

3. Bring them to our office (WCCD Office, 705 N Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103) and drop them in the blue bin (shown in the image below) outside our front lobby door.

Common milkweed is Project Wingspan’s priority native species. However, they have nearly 30 target native flowering species that they collect. There is a Seed Collection Team that will collect many of their target species at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor. To become a PW Seed Collection Volunteer, visit https://www.pollinator.org/wingspan/seed-collection.

Questions? Please contact our Outreach Coordinator, Dru Mark-Wilson, by calling (734) 302-8715 or emailing dru@washtenawcd.org

Bagged seeds can be deposited in the blue bin outside the WCCD front lobby door. The offices are located at 705 N Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.