Kansas Biological Survey
Understanding our environment
  • Home
  • Free Milkweed for Schools and NonProfits Application

Free Milkweed for Schools and NonProfits Application

This application must be completed in one sitting.  Your progress cannot be saved.  To preview this application, please go to this link:  Sample form 
NEW as of March, 2019: EACH Texas applicant will receive a full flat of 50 plants.  You do not need to partner with another organization.

Please answer all questions to the best of your ability.  Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. 

The US Fish and Wildlife Service created a downloadable Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide!  And the USFWS Schoolyard Habitat Program helps teachers and students create wildlife habitat at their own schools.  Click here to access these resources: https://www.fws.gov/cno/conservation/Schoolyard.html

The St. Louis Butterfly Project created Monarch Gardens for Schools: A Resource Guide for PreK-12 Urban School Communities <--click here

Page 1 of 2

Monarchs and pollinators need our help due to habitat loss.

If your school or non-profit educational organization is interested in this conservation measure, we can help you create a habitat for monarchs and pollinators. Please apply using this form.

If your organization qualifies, we will provide a free flat of 32 milkweed plugs as well as guidance on how to create a new habitat or enhance an existing garden. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has provided funds for this project.

You should receive a confirmation email when you submit this form. Please email milkweed@monarchwatch.org if you have any questions.

Clear, digital photos, maps of the garden and a letter of support are required for consideration. You will be prompted to upload these documents.

APPLY NOW!  Applications will be reviewed in the order that they are received.

Who will be considered for free milkweeds?

What's a "plug?"
The native milkweed that is awarded to qualified applicants comes in "plugs."  These are live plants that have been grown in a restoration nursery.  The plants are often trimmed to increase the root mass, or are trimmed for shipping. This does not harm the plants, and can actually benefit them. Unlike nursery plants, restoration plants are grown for habitat restoration, not for aesthetic value at the time of planting.  

 
Aphids and many other greenhouse pests are herbivores.  They may be on the plants because the greenhouse is growing the plants for herbivores (monarch caterpillars), and therefore they can't treat the plants with pesticides.  Sometimes, when the plants arrive, they have been trimmed and they have aphids, so they look unlike plants you would get from a local plant distributor.  Please plant them and tend to them.  They will recover, and the aphids will probably diminish if not disappear.

Applicants that demonstrate the following will be given higher rankings:

  • Schools and Educational Non-Profits will be given highest priority
  • Educational goals of garden clearly described
  • A clear, long-term maintenance plan for the garden space
  • Adequate space (>100 square feet) and light (>6 hrs per day)
  • Spring/Summer/Fall nectar sources existing or to be added in addition to milkweed
  • Administration support
    • Demonstrate in writing that landscape crews will not pull the plants or re-purpose the space in the foreseeable future
  • You will commit to sending an evaluation of the garden success and spring/summer/fall photos of the planting and maintenance of the garden
    • We will send a survey in the Fall for photo submissions and garden evaluations
  • All application materials must be complete prior to review by Monarch Watch

Note: Look for important hints and examples in small, red text below the answer space. (Hint: The hints and examples will look like this.)

 


Select your ecoregion based on the results of the Pollinator Partnership ecoregion finder. Click here: Pollinator Partnership

Or, view the map here: https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/ecoregions/images/maps/ecoregions-united-states...

​Not all Ecoregions are listed on this application.  If you do not see your Ecoregion listed below, that means we do not have plants for your area.  Our milkweed availability depends on donations of seed from volunteer seed collectors.


Please call Angie at 785-864-4850 if you have questions.
If you do not see your state listed, we do not have milkweed for your state.
Who will receive the package? (Enter this information only if it is different from previous entry.)
It may be more convenient for the plants to be shipped to a residence rather than the organization. If so, enter a shipping address. Fill in this portion only if the address is different from the organization address that you entered above.
Enter a shipping city only if it is different from the organization city that you entered above.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

Follow the Kansas Biological Survey and KU Field Station
Facebook  Twitter
Events