Lafayette American wants to rename milkweed to help monarch butterflies on their migration

Does milkweed need a rebrand?

Lafayette American thinks so. Continuing its support of the monarch butterfly, the agency is sending out milkweed seeds for people to plant for the second straight year. But it believes milkweed, the monarch’s only food source, needs a new name that’s less ... weedy.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service emphatically states that milkweed is not technically a weed. And yet it’s called a weed, which makes it tough for people to imagine wanting to plant it in their yard. I mean, who wants to plant a weed?” said Toby Barlow, LA’s CEO.

The agency is suggesting other names, including Monarch Muffin, Butterfly Buffet and Milky Way. And it has set up a website (created with Echo Charlie) to vote on their favorite or suggest their own.

LA’s larger goal is to build a Butterfly Superhighway by getting milkweed planted all over the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., helping monarch butterflies on their long migration from Mexico to Canada and back every year. The new website also has an interactive map where people can follow the migration.

“We thought it might be good for people to see how long that journey is, and how varied,” said Barlow, “One day the butterfly is fluttering through the Appalachian Mountains, then it’s in a truck stop outside of Philly. It’s not an easy trip. They could use our help.”

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