"Monarch Mentors" provides opportunities for nature enthusiasts to learn about: habitat restoration in order to re-establish healthy numbers of monarchs & pollinators and then to help educate the public to plant native milkweed species and nectar-rich plants. This seems the only way for the low monarch populations to return to previous healthy numbers.
Habitat. Habitat. Habitat.
Monarch Waystations = Gardens with Milkweed
Milkweed - it's what's for dinner . . .
. . . for a monarch caterpillar.
BONAP
Biota of North America Program
PLANTS USDA
NRCS
North Carolina vendors of milkweed:
See "Local Resources" for additional vendors in Asheville area that carry Asclepias at various times of the year.
The Xerces Society's
Milkweed Project
Lots of great reading and resources here:
http://www.xerces.org/milkweed/
Access PDF for Milkweed: A Conservation Practioners Guide here:
http://www.xerces.org/milkweeds-a-conservation-practitioners-guide/
Methods of Propagating Milkweeds
USFS publication: Monarchs and milkweeds: The current situation and methods for propagating milkweeds
by Tara Luna & R. Kasten Dumroese.
http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2013_luna_t001.pdf?
This map (from the link below) shows approximate ecoregions best suited for milkweeds. Identify your area's number and cross reference it to the listing for native milkweeds.