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some crabs in a guy costume

@crustaceousfaggot / crustaceousfaggot.tumblr.com

Theta • He/Him • Adult • Jewish • Classical singer but it won't come up here much • I reblog NSFW jokes but not images, do with that what you will. • Current main interests are AMC's The Terror and wider polar exploration stuff.

you are NOT my “passenger princess” get off your phone we are Under attack!!!!!!!! you are my gunner; man the weapons and defend our vehicle with your life!!!

david tennant, matt smith, and jodie whittaker: if doctor who calls me and im available I am so there

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

christopher eccleston and peter capaldi: there’s nothing on god’s green earth that makes me want to reprise the role of the doctor on television

me: omg yes slay I love that for you

Some of you may have heard about Monarch butterflies being added to the Threatened species list in the US and be planning to immediately rush out in spring and buy all the milkweed you can manage to do your part and help the species.

And that's fantastic!! Starting a pollinator garden and/or encouraging people and businesses around you to do the same is an excellent way to help not just Monarchs but many other threatened and at-risk pollinator species!

However.

Please please PLEASE do not obtain Tropical Milkweed for this purpose!

Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)--also commonly known as bloodflower, Mexican butterflyweed, and scarlet milkweed--will likely be the first species of milkweed you find for sale at most nurseries. It'll be fairly cheap, too, and it grows and propagates so easily you'll just want to grab it! But do not do that!

  • Harboring a protozoan parasite called OE (which has been linked to lower migration success, reductions in body mass, lifespan, mating success, and flight ability) for long periods of time
  • Remaining alive for longer periods, encouraging breeding during migration time/overwintering time as well as keeping monarchs in an area until a hard freeze wherein which they die
  • Actually becoming toxic to monarch caterpillars when exposed to warmer temperatures associated with climate change

However--do not be discouraged!! There are over 100 species of milkweed native to the United States, and plenty of resources on which are native to your state specifically! From there, you can find the nurseries dedicated to selling native milkweeds, or buy/trade for/collect seeds to grow them yourself!!

The world of native milkweeds is vast and enchanting, and I'm sure you'll soon find a favorite species native to your area that suits your growing space! There's tons of amazing options--whether you choose the beautiful pink vanilla-smelling swamp milkweed, the sophisticated redring milkweed, the elusive purple milkweed, the alluring green antelopehorn milkweed, or the charming heartleaf milkweed, or even something I didn't list!

And there's tons of resources and lots of people willing to help you on your native milkweed journey! Like me! Feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions!

Just. PLEASE. Leave the tropical milkweed alone. Stay away.

TLDR: Start a pollinator garden to help the monarchs! Just don't plant tropical milkweed. There's hundreds of other milkweeds to grow instead!

Spring is on its way, so it's time to bring this up again before we all go out buying plants.

If you live in the US, do not buy this plant!

This is tropical milkweed! It's beautiful, but not native to the US, and causes spread of disease and failure to migrate in monarch butterflies.

HOWEVER. Note that if you live in central to southern Mexico, Central America, or South America, this plant is native and okay to plant! I've seen native monarchs and close relatives using these plants in Mexico and Bolivia (where I took this photo).

Look up the native milkweeds in your area to find which are best to plant! OP mentions a few resources and species. Some popular species out east in the US include swamp or rose milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), and whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), as well as the most famous, though maybe not the prettiest, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, is native to much of the west. If you're in the southewest, Asclepias subulata, the desert milkweed, is probably a better option.

Dave K explaining to his husband that he’ll be at the table as soon as he’s done making his latest Spotify playlist for his cannibalism fandom trans zoomers

the thing about being nonbinary is that you really do start to forget that other people have such strict walls around what is and isn’t allowed for genders. i thought we all agreed that we made that up. could you climb out of the cave real quick and feel the sunshine for a minute.

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