BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield resident Susan Moseson came to the rescue of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge’s “Monarch Waystation” demonstration butterfly garden in July, donating more than 60 swamp milkweed plants to replace others that had been destroyed. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs only on milkweed plants, whose leaves are the sole source of food for monarch caterpillars.
“We have been growing milkweed in our home garden for three years,” Moseson, a Linden Avenue resident and member of the newly-formed Bloomfield Beautification Committee, said. “This spring, we had many more young plants than we had space for. A couple of neighbors took some, but we still had many more. We are members of the Friends of the Great Swamp, so we contacted them to see if they could use any. It turned out they were looking for new plants for their demonstration garden, as something — probably a rabbit — had eaten all of their previous ones. ‘We’ll install a fence,’ they told me, ‘if you can provide the plants.'”
Moseson transplanted several dozen plants to plastic cups and spent the next two weeks caring for the plants, supporting them as needed with bamboo dowels and even moving them en masse into her garage when thunderstorms threatened. On July 16, she and her husband, Rich, delivered four crates of plants to the visitor center at the Great Swamp refuge in Basking Ridge, where they were planted by summer interns.
The Mosesons’ yard has been certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and Moseson is a member of the township Beautification Committee and the Friends of the Great Swamp. Her husband, Rich, is a board member of the Friends of Watsessing Park Conservancy.
“I’d like to encourage our neighbors here in Bloomfield to grow milkweed for monarchs and other plants that attract butterflies and pollinators, such as honeybees,” said Susan Moseson. “You don’t need a huge yard to have a beautiful garden and provide a habitat for wildlife.”
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