Apache Junction’s Library Wants Help Filling Seed Packets Nov. 10, and This Month’s Lesson Is Milkweed for Monarchs

Some library programs ask you to sit and listen. The one at the Apache Junction Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 10, puts you to work first. From 4 to 6 p.m. in the library’s Opal Room, volunteers and visitors will fill seed packets for the library’s free seed collection, then turn to this month’s topic: monarch butterflies and the milkweed they depend on.

The program is called the Seed Up Meet Up. According to the Pinal County Library District’s event listing, it is free, open to ages 12 and up, and needs no registration. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions about home gardens, and the evening includes an introduction to Earth Heart Park & Community Garden, a volunteer-run garden elsewhere in Apache Junction. The library is at 1177 N. Idaho Road, and staff can be reached at 480-474-8555.

A seed library that started with an Eagle Scout

The packets visitors fill go into a seed library that was already a fixture of the library before this fall. The library’s website says the collection sits in the Mountain View Room and that each library card can check out four seed packets a month. An ABC15 report from May described the seeds as being organized in an old-fashioned card catalog, the kind of wooden drawers that once held index cards for every book on the shelves.

The project began with a local teenager. In a city announcement written by supervisory librarian Vicki Ann Duraine when the collection opened, the library credited Lloyd Stenglein, a lifelong Apache Junction resident who was working toward the rank of Eagle Scout. Stenglein, then 18 and a recent graduate of Faith Christian School in Mesa, collected funds and supplies, furnished the display cabinet, and provided the first batch of seeds. He told the library he wanted to give back because it had been a big part of his childhood, particularly the children’s area.

“Our mission is to provide education, technology, information and entertainment to all members of our community,” library director Pam Harrison said in that announcement. “Making seeds available is another resource toward that goal.”

The library lists the seeds it commonly stocks, subject to availability. The list runs from dried beans, beets, cabbage, carrots and collard greens to kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onion, peas, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, squash and Swiss chard, along with herbs such as oregano and parsley and flowers including cosmos, sunflowers and pollinator mixes. Many of those are cool-season crops, which fits the calendar. Late fall is when low-desert gardeners are putting in leafy greens and root vegetables that would struggle in summer heat.

A card is the main requirement. The library’s FAQ says standard cards are free for anyone who lives or owns property in Pinal County, or who works or goes to school in Apache Junction. Visitors from elsewhere can get a free Easy Access card with a photo ID, though those cards carry a smaller checkout limit. The library’s pages do not say whether Easy Access cards can borrow seeds, so it is worth asking at the desk.

A bigger garden behind the building

The seed library was meant to be the start of something larger. In May, Harrison told ABC15 that the library was building a 20,000-square-foot garden on the east side of the building, where patrons could see how the seeds they check out are actually planted and grown. She described six main pieces: a storage shed, a greenhouse, six raised garden beds, shaded tables and seating, an amphitheater for about 40 people facing the Superstition Mountains, and a water feature, with paths running through native plants.

“We want to show how to grow seeds, how to garden,” Harrison told the station, adding that the work depends on the library’s programming staff and “a great group of already existing master gardeners.” At the time, she said construction was expected to finish by June so the garden could open over the summer. We could not confirm whether that timeline held, so visitors on Nov. 10 can ask staff how the project is coming along.

Earth Heart, the community garden on Plaza Drive

The other garden on the evening’s agenda is Earth Heart Park & Community Garden, at 625 N. Plaza Drive, near the northeast corner of Plaza Drive and Superstition Boulevard. Its website says the garden started in July 2021 and describes its purpose as helping people learn to grow organic food while building friendships. It says the garden is open to everyone in the community and welcomes gardeners of all skill levels.

The garden posts regular times for people to meet there, listing Monday mornings from 7 to 9 and late afternoons from 4 to 6, with a note that hours change with the season. The site names Lavier F. Kurtz Jr., a Master Gardener, as community garden coordinator. People who want to volunteer can download an application and return it to Kurtz at the garden on a volunteer day or by email at info@ehpcg.org. The garden notes that volunteers who help at schools or public events must have a fingerprint card on file. Donations, according to the site, go toward plant propagation, events, supplies, education and beautification.

Why milkweed, and why now

Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed, so a yard without it can offer nectar to adult butterflies but nowhere to raise the next generation. In the low desert, fall is one of the better times to start it.

The Southwest Monarch Study, an Arizona-based research and education group, says milkweeds in the lower deserts are easy to grow from seed and do not need the cold treatment that northern species require. It names three native species that stay evergreen at lower elevations. Desert or rush milkweed, Asclepias subulata, wants full sun and little water, and the group says it grows best when temperatures are above 80 degrees. Pineneedle milkweed, Asclepias linaria, does best with filtered afternoon shade, and Arizona milkweed, Asclepias angustifolia, prefers morning sun or partial shade. The group says those last two are best started in early spring or fall.

Its planting advice is simple. Soak seeds in warm tap water for 24 to 48 hours to soften the seed coat. For seeding directly in the ground, it suggests October and November, scratching the soil surface lightly, scattering seed, covering it with a thin layer of soil and pressing it down. It also recommends sowing plenty, since rodents and weather will claim some of it, and notes that winter rain and cool temperatures help prepare the seed for spring germination.

University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, in a lesson plan for building a monarch garden, advises against buying tropical milkweed from nurseries. The plant is attractive, the guide says, but in some parts of the country this non-native species can carry a parasite that harms caterpillars. The extension recommends native seed instead. For nectar, it suggests blue mist flower, which it describes as easy to grow and very attractive to monarchs and the closely related queen butterflies, and it notes that late spring and early fall are good times to spot both.

For gardeners who want to go further, the Southwest Monarch Study points to the Monarch Waystation program run by Monarch Watch, which asks for at least 10 milkweed plants along with other host and nectar plants.

What to bring

Nothing is required beyond curiosity and maybe a question about something that is not working in your yard. Packing seeds is the kind of job that goes faster with more hands, and the listing specifically invites questions about home gardens. If you have a library card, it is a good chance to check out your four packets for November while you are there.

The evening is small in scale. It is a couple of hours in a library meeting room, a stack of envelopes and a table of volunteers. But it connects several things Apache Junction residents have built on their own time: a seed cabinet started by a teenager, a garden on Plaza Drive that began in 2021, and a library that wants its patrons to leave with something to plant.