The Milkweed Menagerie…

Last year, after being away from home for a little while, Greg and I returned home to find this growing in the pachysandra near our house.

I soon found out that it was a milkweed plant and what I learned about it made me glad that it decided to plant itself in our yard.  I won’t go into all the ins and outs of what makes this plant interesting, but what ultimately made me decide that I wouldn’t pull it out was that it is the life blood of the subspecies of butterfly called the Milkweed Butterfly, which includes the Monarch Butterfly.

 Somehow in the back of my mind, I knew that Monarch’s were having a hard time and I learned that, aside from climate change, a further reason for their struggle is that milkweed – so important to the Monarch’s success – is disappearing.  I figured since our yard is no showplace, it might look better with a few Monarchs hanging around.  So I left it.

Well, long story short here.  This is our second year of encouraging the milkweed to grow.  We have not had a Monarch yet.  But I am going to share with you the variety of creatures that are benefiting from our crop.

This is a Great Spangled Fritillary.  I think he’s rather magnificent.

And what I like best about him are his eyes.  They match his outfit.  The first thing that popped into my head when I saw that were lines from the song In the Merry Old Land of Oz.

We can make a dimple smile out of a frown
Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown? Uh-huh
Jolly old town.

We’ve also seen a lot of this little fellow this year.  He’s a Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly.  I think it looks like he’s sporting a fur cape.

Here’s an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  This guy is beautiful from the top and the bottom and from inside and out.

It hasn’t been just butterflies who like our milkweed.  Today I saw this Hummingbird Moth.

There have been many honey bees.  Yay!!

And dragonflies of all colors and sizes.

This dragonfly was on a nearby wildflower.  I wanted to post this picture because after I uploaded it, I noticed the little bumps all down its tail.

Are those eggs?

I don’t claim to be an Entomologist.  I just poke around on the Internet to find this stuff out.  If you see any mistakes here, please let me know.

But, here’s the bottom line.  If you see milkweed in your yard, I’d like to encourage you to leave it be.  You will see some pretty neat creatures this summer and it makes a really nice photographic subject in the fall as well.  Not only that, but the birds find it to be a nice sturdy perching stick.  Milkweed...a plant for all seasons.

Random thoughts…

I’m on a crusade of sorts to help the Monarch butterfly.  I didn’t know this until about a year ago, but Monarchs are dependent on milkweed to live.  So if you see a plant in your yard that looks like this...

...please don’t cut it down.  Leave it and keep your fingers crossed that a Monarch will find it and lay a few eggs.  They need our help and this is an easy way to help.  Other butterflies like it, too, so there is a good chance you’ll see some beauties like these Great Spangled Fritillaries even if the Monarchs don’t find you.

Olive and I are living like bachelorettes this week.  Greg is off on a motorcycle trip and we have enough sense not to have anything to do with that.  We’ve been staying up late watching British mysteries, which Greg will watch, but I think he prefers not to.  So we are doing him a favor…or favour.  Here’s Olive trying to stay awake after our late night as she searches for her spot.  She’s a trooper!

One day a couple weeks ago, I went out to stand under our Crabapple tree.  I like standing there because I don’t think I can be seen when I’m inside and under of the branches.  I’m sure that’s illusory on my part, but I do it anyway.  Don’t ask me why.  I just think it’s cool.  So anyhow, I ventured into the tree one day and a bird flew at me and out of the tree.  It was a robin and there was the nest sitting on a branch just slightly above my head.  I hadn’t seen it in there from the outside.

  I tried to stay away so that the family could have some privacy, but I was curious so I had Greg, who is a bit taller than I am, look to see if there was anything still inside the nest.  He thought he could see two eggs.  Well, we left them on their own for the most part and, sure enough, at least two babies emerged.  Now they have flown the coup and I can look more closely at what I think is the most elegant of bird nests.  I couldn’t get a good photo because of all the leaves and branches in the way, but I love those tendrils.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Here you can see two little ones in the nest.  It’s also a pretty poor photo.  It is in situations like this that I really wish I were taller but nothing can be done about that in this lifetime.  At least I got to see the little buggers.  I hope they live long and prosper.

What is it with Blogger lately?  I keep getting these white lines that I have a heck of a time getting rid of.  Well, there are more pressing things I have to think about now...like what the heck are Olive and I going to watch tonight.

I Like Leftovers…

I am still feeling a bit low but getting better each day.  But I haven’t been feeling like going too far afield to look for green stuff.  A short stroll through our yard only yielded a couple of rather pathetic looking little snowdrops that have bravely popped out of the ground.  It’s not much, but it’s a beginning.

I’m sure that any day now, all sorts of green will burst forth.

Meanwhile, I did find some leftovers from last summer…the skeletons of once living flowers, seed pods and leaves.  I think they are still worthy of study.  So I gathered them up and here they are.  Enjoy!

Looking a little closer….

Autumn is winding down and most of the bright fall colors are gone.  The color scheme of brown and green is what I see out my window these days.  After the vibrant fall we had, these toned down colors can seem a bit dreary even on a bright and beautiful day like today.  But I know there are still intriguing things to find out there.  One just has to look a little closer.

Look and you might see delicate, gossamer milkweed seeds about to be released upon the wind.

Or gracefully twisted branches that were once hidden by foliage.

Or dried seed pods that make up their own bouquets where their flowers once stood.

Or the nice, bright sparkle of red berries.

Just look...