Story and photo by Miriam Raftery

April 21, 2017 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon Library, located at 201 E. Douglas Avenue in El Cajon, will host its first Monarch Butterfly Festival, in partnership with San Diego Master Gardeners and the Water Conservation Garden organization, on Saturday, May 13, 2017, from 1 – 4 pm.   Beautiful orange and black monarch butterflies are both year-round San Diego residents and winter migration visitors.  Their numbers have greatly declined over the years and festival visitors can learn about them and how to help increase their numbers by planting a monarch butterfly garden.  Having a butterfly garden is a popular and fun family activity.  Even if you don’t have room for a garden, you can plant milkweed in pots.