Monarch on ironweed
Danaus plexippus
Monarch · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 31 August 2025
A Monarch with wings fully spread over a cluster of ironweed's small magenta flowerheads at the Botanic Garden on the last day of August, which is about when the migrating generation starts to move through Brooklyn. Monarchs breed across the whole continent; the ones on the wing now are the ones bound for Mexico.
Ironweed is a native perennial of wet meadows, named for its tough, rust-coloured stems rather than anything about the flower, and a late-season nectar stop on the route south.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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