in Bethlehem, P.A., it's time for another egg-laying episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden!

I'm your host, Mike McGrath.

Do you grow milkweed to help support the declining population of amazing monarch butterflies?

On today's show, we'll explain the other plants you need to grow to create a complete butterfly habitat.

And, of course, we'll take lots of your fabulous phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions and mysteriously mundane mollifications.

So keep your ears and/or eyes right here, cats and kittens, because it's all coming up faster than you having a butterfly way station of your own...

Right after this.

- Support for You Bet Your Garden is provided by the Espoma company, offering a complete selection of natural organic plant foods and potting soils.

More information about Espoma and the Espoma natural gardening community can be found at... - Welcome to another brand new episode of You Bet Your Garden from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media, in Bethlehem, P.A.

Yes, our winter break is over, and we're going to be here for the entire spring to help you get your new garden started.

Speaking of which, and the Question of the Week appears.

We will tell you what kind of plants that you may want to get a hold of as soon as possible to attract not only monarchs, but butterflies of every size, shape, and color.

But, in the meantime, we've got to take your fabulous phone calls at... Stephen, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Yes.

How are you doing today, sir?

- I am just Ducky!

Thank you for asking, Steve.

How are you, sir?

- I'm okay, really good today.

- Oh!

"OK" to me is like mid-level, but if that's good for you, it's good for you.

Where are you, man?

- I'm in right outside of Quakertown, a little town called Richland Township.

- What can we do you for?

- Well, I have a peach tree out in my backyard that...

It's a beautiful tree, but it grows peaches the size of a quarter, and I don't know why.

- Oh, you're an easy phone call.

- Okay.

- So first of all, why do you only have one peach tree?

- Well, I'm going to give you my little background story about that peach tree.

I bought it at Lowe's and, when I bought it, I bought one.

And the lady says to me, that operates that area, "You need to buy another one to make peaches."

And I said, "That's not what I would like to have.

"I would like to have a tree that I can plant that one tree "that'll make peaches."

And she said, "I'll switch to get you the right tree."

And she did, and I've had it ever since.

- OK. You're both right.

Planting two trees, especially of different varieties, will give you bigger fruits, more fruits, and better fruits.

- Right.

- But it is possible to harvest peaches from a single tree if you treat them properly.

And I'm guessing that you are not thinning your peaches early in the season.

- Thinning?

What do you mean?

- There we go, bingo!

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

McGrath got another one.

After the flowers fade and the little peaches appear, you need to go out... - Right.

- You need to go out with a five-gallon bucket and remove at least half of those peaches.

Maybe more, because they're not going to achieve any kind of size.

Peaches are notorious for producing more fruit than the tree can handle.

So, in some cases, enough fall off to kind of equalize things, but it is much better and saves the tree... A lot of nutrition loss is if you start pulling them off when they're the size of marbles.

And the more you take off, the bigger the ones left behind will get, and they will be much more flavorful.

- Got it, got it, I will try that this year.

- The same is true of apples, by the way.

Apple trees need to be thinned in the spring.

- Right, right, right.

Well, that's the only problem I've had with that, and I've had the tree for 14 years, and it's doing the exact same thing to me, and I was told that, and I did pull a few of those off.

But maybe, perhaps I never pulled enough of them off.

And then, also, I was told to spray the whole tree with a soap, ivory soap to keep the bugs off.

- Oh God!

Why are other people allowed to talk about gardening when they don't know anything?!

Oh, God, no... - And I haven't done that.

I did it one time a long time ago, but never done it again, because I said, I can see the bugs... And the other problem, a little problem I've had with the tree is the ants like to crawl up the trunk.

- Right, is the trunk...?

Hey, wait, is the trunk split open?

In one area, it is, yes, sir.

- Yeah, that's what's attracting the ants.

Find a way to cover that area.

Maybe paint the broken area over with white latex paint.

- I did that already.

Yes, sir.

- Do it again.

- I did that this year, yes.

- Do it again.

OK?

- I will do that in the spring.

Yes, sir.

- And at least half the peaches.

This is not for the timid.

The bolder you are in removal, the more fabulous peaches you'll get.

- Does it help to trim some of the branches off?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, you have to do basic pruning in the spring, as well.

- Okay, okay.

- You can find out more about that at our website.

- I got you, sir, I got you.

You've been a great help.

- All right!

That's what we like to hear.

You take care, sir, and good luck this season.

- Thank you very much, and your show is fantastic.

- I know that, thank you.

- Thank you very much.

All right.

You take care.

Bye-bye.

- Bye-bye.

Number to call... John, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Thank you, Mike and Ducky.

- Hey!

All hands up for Ducky.

Yes, he's getting us through these endless crises.

- You know, I have the feeling that Ducky is really the leader of that program.

- Shh, shh!

Don't tell people that Ducky is a ventriloquist, and he has five Ducky assistants with their hands up my back, making me move and... - Excellent.

- Yeah.

Where are you, John?

- Wilmington, Delaware.

- Oh!

OK. We all know Wilmington.

What can we do you for, sir?

- My wife is Chinese, and we both like mung bean sprouts.

They put 'em in fried rice, and I try to grow them.

She doesn't want to buy them because she says they are not organic.

I try to grow them three ways.

One I found online and grow them in a dark place like mushrooms.

And they did sprout.

But they were...

They were very thin, maybe two inches, but very thin.

Not suitable.

I tried to put them in a bowl, soak them, gave them light.

Same thing.

So I thought, well, the last thing I can do is I put them in soil, and exactly the same thing.

They just never worked out.

So... - OK. All right, John, I will tell you right away that especially from the years, say, circa 1970 to 2000, I visited Chinatown's supermarkets and little hole-in-the-wall markets, constantly looking for the right kind of bean curd, hoi sin sauce and, of course, mung bean sprouts.

And, as you know, and your wife knows, they were typically packaged in plastic, already sprouted.

- Right.

- But it was a very popular thing at the time to sprout your own.

Now, where have you been getting your seeds?

- Um, from a Chinese market.

- Oh!

OK. Well, what makes you think they would be organic?

- Um, I don't know.

And perhaps they were a little bit old, I think they might have been a year old.

You're easy peasy, man.

Go online and look for "organic Mung bean seeds", and you'll probably get tons of hits, I know Johnny's Selected Seeds sells them, but there are also quite a few small seed merchants that specialize in Asian varieties, let's put it that way.

And what you do is you buy this specialized tube.

It's a long, plastic tube closed at one end, but vented at the other end.

So, you put your bean seeds into there, and then, you fill it with water.

Then you rinse it.

You pour that water out, then you fill it with more water, and you rinse it and you pour it out.

Then you fill it with a third thing of water and rinse that mostly out, just leaving a tiny bit of moisture inside, and then, lay the thing down on its side in normal indoor light, not in the dark, not in bright.

And within 5-7 days, they should be sprouting.

If things seem to be dry in there, you can repeat this every day.

You can, you know, water them, dump it out, water them, dump it out, water them, dump it out.

One of the keys to getting really high-quality bean sprouts is the repeated rinsing.

And think of the container.

I mean, it's maintaining moisture, but it also has this ventilation at the end because, you know, they can get mushy if you don't do the right thing.

So it is really easy to do, and you're going to wind up sprouting all kinds of seeds.

You're going to go nuts.

It's really easy to do.

The organic seeds are out there readily available, and there are other types of sprouts, so to speak.

But this is the kind I used all the time, and it always worked.

5-7 days.

Eat them fresh, start another run, maybe get 2-3 of the sprouting units, so you always have fresh ones.

You'll never look back.

- Excellent again.

That's why you have a show, and I don't.

- All right.

You take care, sir.

- Okay, bye-bye.

- As inevitably occurs at this point in the show, it is time for the Question of the Week.

Submitted for your approval... As you may recall, in our last thrilling episode, we explained that the dreaded milkweed seed bug was not an enemy of Monarch butterfly breeding, but instead was an asset.

This week, it's a rundown of the best milkweeds and other butterfly plants for your garden.

Thanks to the legendary Ron Ryle of Pottstown, P.A., A member of Monarch Watch, a nationwide group of citizen scientists, Official Monarch Tagger, and a wonderful example of how you can see these wonders of nature, help care for their young, and fuel them up for their seemingly impossible journey to overwintering sites in Mexico, with just an intensive planting in a small backyard.

First, the basics.

Eastern monarchs spend their summers in the U.S. and Canada, and then retreat back to their breeding grounds not far from Mexico City.

There, they hibernate together in massive numbers in the trees, often completely camouflaging the entire tree with their famous colors.

It is during this time that natives and scientists look for tags that have been attached to a specific spot on one of the butterfly's wings.

These small discs reveal who tagged it, the date it was tagged, and the city in which it was tagged.

I was honored to actually tag and release a few at Ron's home in Pottstown, and can assure you that these butterflies have sturdy wings.

During their time in Mexico, the monarchs mate, and then, begin the journey back north to their feeding grounds.

The first group stopping where it's warm down south.

The second group waiting until it's just as warm in the mid-Atlantic.

And the final show-off group flying all the way up to Canada.

Each and every female looking for a milkweed plant on which to deposit her eggs.

The eggs hatch quickly, distinctive-looking caterpillars emerge and start chowing down on the milkweed, gaining a little more invulnerability every day from naturally-occurring compounds that exist in the milkweed until their colors make it obvious they would be a lousy, or maybe even toxic meal.

Then they spin a very distinctive and beautiful chrysalis, inside of which they will finish a complete metamorphosis and finally emerge as impressively-colored adults.

After a couple of hours drying their wings in the sun, they will flutter off, their need for milkweed over.

From here on in, they feed on pollen and nectar.

That means the growing milkweed is only half of achieving a monarch-friendly landscape.

But first, let's discuss those milkweeds.

Here are three that are native to Pennsylvania and surrounding regions, listeners and/or viewers... Fewers?

Do we have fewer viewers?

I hope not.

And other regions should consult their state extension service and/or MonarchWatch.org for the best varieties for their specific region.

OK?

First up is common milkweed.

It has big, pink flowers and attracted the most monarchs by far in Ron's garden.

Swamp milkweed has smaller pink flowers and, despite its name, does not need to grow in a swamp.

It simply prefers wet areas.

Tuberose, a.k.a.

butterfly weed and either Railroad Annie or Auntie, named for its legendary ability to grow next to, around and between railroad tracks.

Like the early bluesmen, this plant followed the rails.

But man does not live by monarchs alone.

Here are the other host plants Ron grows in his butterfly backyard and the butterflies they attract.

Number one, for no good reason or another, are pawpaw trees, which not only deliver that delectable giant-size fragrant tropical fruit in the summertime, but also attract the zebra swallowtail.

Dutchman's pipevine, that tracks the pipevine swallowtail.

Come on, did you need me to tell you that?

Parsley, an excellent butterfly host plant and feeding plant, attracts the eastern black swallowtail.

Hops attracts the eastern comma butterfly in such quantities that the plant is also known as the "hop merchant".

Hog peanut, which I really don't think I'd ever heard of before, is a string bean-like vine that attracts the silver spotted skipper.

Fennel, another great plant overall for butterflies and pollinators, attracts the eastern black swallowtail.

Field thistle attracts the painted lady.

Of which we will say no more.

Spicebush trees attract the spice-book swallowtail.

Passion flower attracts the variegated fritillary.

Red cedar, those big trees, will bring in the olive hairstreak.

Sena, which, I mean, you can grow it for the butterflies or color your hair, but if you grow it, you might see the cloudless sulphur or the sleepy orange.

The plant ru graveolens, a.k.a.

herb of grace, attracts the giant swallowtail.

Turtlehead, a much-beloved native plant, brings in the Baltimore checkerspot.

Tulip poplar, another huge tree, brings in the tiger swallowtail.

All right, now, we're going to get a little weird on you.

Gas plant, also known as "burning bush" because, like the biblical and unrelated plant, it produces so much of a volatile lemon-scented oil that it can actually burst into flame during relentless, hot, and sunny days, but without harming the plant.

You know, maybe we should revisit this biblical angle.

As we are told in the Book of Exodus, Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.

Exodus III.

Anyway, it attracts the giant black swallowtail.

Ron's notes on this topic.

These host plants are more important than the Nectar plants to follow, as each butterfly depends on specific plants on which to lay its eggs.

For example, if the pipevine swallowtail cannot find Dutchman's pipevine to lay its eggs on, the butterfly could become extinct.

Monarchs, of course, depend on milkweed.

No milkweed, no monarchs.

Ron says, "I hope you will join me in conserving butterflies."

Plant host plants to save the butterflies!

But those are just the essential elements of the butterfly nursery.

Once grown to adulthood, monarchs and other really cool butterflies depend on plants that provide lots of high-quality pollen and nectar.

Here is a partial list of Ron's best plants for those adults.

Number one will always be tithonia, Mexican sunflower.

We've talked about this fabulous plant many times on the show, and it is a huge source of pollen and nectar for monarchs on their way back down to Mexico.

Verbena.

Blue Dahlia, which we all call Butterfly Bush Blue Mist.

Common milkweed, swamp milkweed, field thistle, state fair mix zinnia, butterfly weed, which we talked about before, that's tuberose.

Late flowering boneset, purple cone flower, and mountain mint!

The winner by a wide margin in Ron's pocket garden.

And finally, a closing note from me.

First, use no pesticides, or you'll wind up killing the creatures you're trying to help.

And two, do not attract birds anywhere near your butterfly habitat.

Butterflies are a favorite food of many birds, so take those seed feeders down.

Well, that sure was an exhaustive list of plants that benefit butterflies, now, wasn't it?

Luckily for yous, the Question of the Week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over in detail with links to the legendary MonarchWatch.org, just click the link for the Question of the Week at our website, which is still and will forever be... Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week, and you will always find the latest Question on the Week at the Gardens Alive website.

You Bet Your Garden is a half hour public television show, an hour-long public radio show and podcast, all produced and delivered to you weekly by Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA. Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created when a fly entered his drawing room, causing him to utter the fateful words, "Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot.

"I will dress like this fly to terrorize them!"

Unfortunately, they were not terrorized and kept swatting him away.

Yikes!

My producer is threatening to maim my mountain mint if I don't get out of this studio.

We must be out of time.

But you can call us anytime at...

Send us your emails, your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse teeming towards our garden shore at...

Always, please, include your location, even if you think we know who you are.

We actually have no idea.

You'll find all of this contact information at our website, YouBetYourGarden.org, where you'll also find the answers to hundreds of your garden questions, audio of this show, video show, and our, sound of angels, ahh, podcast.

Nice job, guys.

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and my guilty pleasure of choice is a perfectly-made Philadelphia cheesesteak on an Amoroso's roll, smothered with sauteed onions and provolone cheese.

And no sauce!

What is it with you people, ruining your cheesesteaks with tomato sauce?

It's chopped-up meat, sauteed onions, and provolone cheese on the correct roll.

You can certainly say gut that role if you prefer less bread, but hold the sauce!

You hear me?

No sauce!

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and I guarantee I will not change my opinion by the time I see you again next week.