Great Expectations

Our native garden is still attracting many insects, and no wonder. While the common milkweed and butterfly weed are going to seed now, the purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, blazing star, and wild bergamond are enjoying many insect visits. The blue lobelias are beginning to open and the Joe-pye weed will not be far behind. It is vital to have continuous bloom in a garden to provide food for butterflies throughout their life span.
Yesterday morning we observed an exciting event: an adult monarch butterfly flitted around our milkweeds. We weren't quite sure what it was doing. And then it occurred to us: It was looking for places to lay its eggs. Finally, it placed its eggs underneath the leafs of the plants. A couple of times it flew away - apparently looking for other egg hosts - only to return and lay some more in our patch. That means that there are no other milkweed plants in the area. While we have no intention of cutting down our milkweeds, it is important for their survival to spread their eggs around to more than one habitat. It is sad that so many people grow nothing but lawn, which goes brown this time of year anyway. Wouldn't you rather have butterflies than brown grass?

Build It and They Will Come

On the rare occasions when we venture outside in this hot, humid weather we have had numerous butterfly and insect sightings. A monarch visited a common milkweed the other day; fritillaries, eastern tiger swallowtails, and an eight-spotted forester checked out the purple coneflowers; an eastern black swallowtail landed on the black-eyed Susans; and a spicebush swallowtail gave our spicebush a once-over (could it be that it was laying its eggs in there?).
The milkweed is also very popular with bees and other insects of all sorts. Next to bloom is the Joe-pye weed, which is already beginning to open. Word is out that our cafe is open for business. One reason, though, why our backyard is so popular is because none of the other neighbors have anything but lawn and alien plants. Build it - or rather, plant it - and they will come!

A Blazing Star

Last year we went on a Blazing Star hike at Jennings Environmental Center. I liked the flowers so much that we purchased two this year. The first one has begun to bloom and is already attracting butterflies. They look better in masses and we're hoping to collect some seeds this fall to expand on our garden.
Butterflies and bees are busy in our garden. The purple coneflowers, bergamond, sunflowers and cosmos are blooming while the black-eyed Susans are beginning to open. Next will be the Joe-pye-weed. A week ago I thought I saw a monarch butterfly on a butterfly weed.