It's a great start to the weekend when you go outside and immediately see this on your carrots. He's my new temporary pet.I also found a ton of monarch eggs on my Tropical Milkweed. It's going to be a fun summer.

Ewws and Ahhs

First the ewws. EWW!! Aphid infestation on my Asclepias incarnata. Gross. Funny though. The plant right next to it appears aphid-free. Now the ahhs. AHH! I love this time of the year. That monarchs are leaving their eggs on the milkweed. The Black Swallowtails are leaving theirs on the carrots, parsley, and fennel. My daughter and I found these just a while ago.
Below: Monarch Cat.
Black Swallowtail Cat.Two monarch cats and an egg (near the tip of the leaf) that I brought in to raise. So much fun. These were on the Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) that I started from seed this past winter.Two black swallowtails that I also brought in. There is also an egg on carrot foliage in there somewhere.Fun for the whole family!

I Have Monarch Cats!

Yeah! Monarch cats on my tropical milkweed! This is great news since there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of butterfly sighting this season. It's scary. Only a handful of times have we seen a few monarchs relishing in the blossoms....and I guess leaving a few eggs behind! Once the cats are a bit bigger, I'll bring them in for the kids to watch and release.

I will definitely need to plant more than three plants next season. A friend gave me three as tiny starts last fall. I overwintered them indoors. In the same pot. TORE apart the roots and planted them outside. They are thriving despite drought and neglect. Love them and love my monarch cats!!!!

Spirit pumpkin. I've never had one so healthy, so long. SVBs have always been a huge problem. This is a more compact cultivar.Golden Acre cabbage starting to form a head.Florence fennel. A volunteer. Note the black swallowtail caterpillar in the upper portion. He's already about an inch and a half long!
One of my three Sungold tomatoes started blossoming a few days ago. I can't wait for these tasty nuggets!
Sweet Basil planted last season. It overwintered and is now starting to flower. It came in a gift herb kit. I never harvested any of it, so I'm hoping the beneficials will like it. That's why it's still hanging around. Peas are planted on both sides of it. You can see my Spirit Pumpkin in the back left.
Below are my tomatoes, a Spirit pumpkin in the near-middle, Golden Acre cabbage in front of that, onions in the back right, peas lining the lower of the picture.
The birdhouse I built a few weeks ago has found its first resident. A lovely pair of wrens! You can see one on the tomato cage holding nesting material.
Ellagance Purple lavender that I started from seed last season. Smells lovely.
Jacob Kline monarda. Five feet tall already!!! My Endless Summer hydrangea is blooming as well.
Rosy Returns daylily.
Flamenco Torch Lily. More of a light apricot than the orange I expected. Perhaps because it is so shaded by the monarda.

Butterfly Host Plants

I have been planning my 2011 flower and veggie garden. Last year I had so much fun raising black swallowtail and monarch butterflies. So much so that I have made it a point to add more host plants to my garden this year. Below is my list of plants that I will have in my garden to feed their hungry little caterpillars.
BUTTERFLY (and Moth) HOST PLANTS

Dill, Fennel, Carrots: Black Swallowtails
Asters: Pearl Crescent
Coneflowers: Silvery Checkerspot
Pentas: Tersa Sphynx moth or hummingbird moth
Milkweed: Monarch
Cleome: Cabbage White
Snapdragon: Common Buckeye
Blueberry: Summer Azure
Oak: Red-Spotted Purple; Imperial Moth; Polyphemus Moth; Red-Banded Hairstreak; Dusky Wing Skipper; White-M Hairstreak
Clover: Eastern Tailed-Blue; Gray Hairstreak; Clouded Sulphur
Peas: Eastern Tailed-Blue
Viola: Great Spangled Fritillary; Variegated Fritillary
.
I enjoy having them visit so much. The least I can do is serve them dinner. :)

Butterflies and Blooms

Last night when I went to bed my first black swallowtail looked like this. Clinging to the lid of the fish tank.This morning he looked like this. In his beautiful, green chrysalis.The kids harvested more Russet Burbank potatoes this week. One plant grew these bright white, squishy "potatoes" with roots. Strange. I've never seen that before.
Elegant Stinkhorn...looks like a garden gnome sneaking up through the soil.
The Autumn Joy sedum and mum are getting ready to start their fall show.
The sedum attracted this gorgeous Common Buckeye. The first I have seen this season. This is one of the most beautiful butterflies I have ever seen.
Common Sulphur (right?) enjoying the Pink Delight butterfly bush.
Kellogg's Breakfast tomato blossom.
Rosy Returns daylily.
My container has looked terrible all season due to the really high heat and dry weather. Finally, after three overcast days, it is starting to look alive.

A Morning Hike

I took the kids on a short hike this morning by a local creek. Trying to find some milkweed since my monarch cats don't like the Asclepias tuberosa. Look what I found. Once I popped off a leaf...the stalk oozed white sap. I found milkweed! I brought it home and the cats have been devouring it ever since. What a relief!Can you find the caterpillar below?
It was huge! An Imperial moth caterpillar!
Can you find the two caterpillars below?
Polyphemus moth caterpillars!
It's experiences like this that make me want to rush right back out the door to see what I can find!

Garden Critters

Swallowtail in three different stages. A maturing cat, a young cat, and an egg (upper right) are all within this picture.My cleome was filled with critters. From bugs to butterflies. Another variation of a harlequin bug.
Check out all the Harlequin bug and babies below. They were covering the cleome. Looks like these two bugs were working on making more as well.
On the underside of a leaf, there were eggs deposited. Black with white stripes. This cluster had some of those and ones that looked like they were hatching.
Tiger Swallowtail.
I have to look this one up.

Potatoes and Garden Treasures

Yesterday I let the kids help me dig up most of the potatoes we planted this Spring. The Russet Burbanks. I admit I was terrible about watering them. Terrible. In fact, I'm surprised they survived the heat and drought. We yielded about 7 pounds of potatoes from 4 of the seed potatoes. I know it would have been more if I watered regularly, but it was still worth it after seeing the smiles on my kids' faces when they pulled them out of the ground.There were a couple interesting finds as well.
This little female ruby-throated hummingbird spent quite a while hanging out at the feeder, clothes line, and in the holly tree. It was like she wanted to me to refill it with fresh nectar. You don't have to ask me twice! I'd do anything to keep her happy.
A clearwing hummingbird moth on my Pink Delight butterfly bush.
A cicada clinging to a tomato stem.
A black swallowtail cat that I found in the garden the other day! The first time I ever found one here!
Only two days later...
I also found these two eggs! The one on the right is blurry.
It's a great butterfly year!