MADISON, Wis. (WRN) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources names its 2025 Plant of the Year.
The DNR Rare Plant Monitoring Program selected milkweed, which is the only plant where monarch butterflies lay their eggs and the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. Monarchs breed in Wisconsin during the spring and summer months and need milkweed to survive.
The DNR encouraged people to keep planting milkweed to help the monarch population. Five of the 13 milkweed plants native to Wisconsin are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern.
A list of native plant sales and native plants nurseries is available on the DNR’s website.