Free Milkweed Seed Event Set for Columbia, Nov. 7

Columbia families with a flower bed or a bare patch of yard to spare have a reason to set aside Saturday morning, Nov. 7: the Missouri Department of Conservation is giving away milkweed seed, free, to anyone willing to plant it.

The event runs 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Boone County Nature School, 8989 S. Tom Bass Road, just south of Columbia. MDC staff will walk participants through what milkweed actually does for a yard — mainly, feed monarch butterflies and other pollinators that depend on it — before handing over the hands-on part: defluffing milkweed seed pods so the seed is ready to plant. Everyone who comes gets to take seed home for their own flower beds or a pollinator plot.

Who can come, and do you need to sign up?

Registration is required ahead of time, at short.mdc.mo.gov/ogg. The event is open to ages 8 and up, but kids 8 to 15 need an adult with them. MDC Conservation Educator JR Royston is the contact for questions, at jr.royston@mdc.mo.gov, and the department offers ADA accommodations for anyone who needs them through mdc.mo.gov/accessibility.

Why does one plant matter so much to a monarch?

Monarch caterpillars eat almost nothing but milkweed — it’s the only plant they can survive on before becoming a butterfly — which makes a yard’s milkweed patch a small but real piece of the monarch’s cross-country migration route. That migration already passes close to home: in September, the Boonslick Master Gardeners drew families out to the Boonville Katy Depot for a Monarch Migration Tagging Workshop, tagging monarchs headed south for the winter. A handful of seeds from this MDC event, planted this fall or next spring, is one more small stop along that same route.

It’s also a fitting companion to other growing going on close to home — a food bank grower in Rocheport recently laid plans for a year-round plot of her own, a reminder that what gets planted locally, whether it’s feeding pollinators or people, tends to add up.

There’s no cost to attend, and no obligation beyond showing up ready to get your hands a little fluffy. For gardeners in Rocheport and New Franklin, it’s a short enough drive to Columbia to be worth the Saturday morning. (Missouri Department of Conservation)