Showing posts with label Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar. Show all posts

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Buttonbush for the Polinators and Milkweed Caterpillars and More!

This is the first year my Buttonbush has bloomed. I planted it three or four years ago from three bare rooted native plants the Land Trust was giving away. It wasn't my first choice but I got there late. A friend recommended this as it would attract bees and butterflies. I babied the "sticks" and it took a couple of years before they looked like an actual shrub. This is the first year and the bush got buds that finally bloomed and it's glorious. It turned out to be my favorite plant and I am so glad I was late to the event. I had never heard of Buttonbush and now it is thriving in my yard. 

There are only a couple of blooms in this photo but now it is absolutely covered with them.

I have been enjoying the monarch caterpillars on my milkweed plants too. They seem to grow overnight. This is a fat one.

I photographed this rabbit on Saturday morning happily eating weeds in my driveway. It froze and let me photograph it and didn't move until I started walking. Friends with vegetable gardens don't like them but they don't bother me and they are welcome to my weeds. We have had more rain this year that any summer I can remember so the weeds have really taken over. I'll get them hacked down and mowed eventually.





The above three images are from one of my favorite books, The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann. It was published in 1928 and includes 101 favorite posts by her in that appeared in The Chicago Sun Times newspaper. Her original drawings and little poems featured The Cheerful Cherub and his little dog. She was only twenty years old and wise beyond her years, right? I'm trying to catch you up on the three I have put on my Instagram. Enjoy!

I finished this book last weekend and liked it a lot. It's about the early 1940s in NYC when penicillin was new and in short supply. You could die from a cat scratch or a skinned knee if you got an infection. It reads like a historical novel and is full of facts that were unknown to me with a little romance thrown in too. 

Have a great week. 
xo, Rosemary

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar



My milkweed is almost defoliated because the leaves are being devoured by these amazing yellow, black and white striped caterpillars. I took this photo last evening when I was closing up shop downstairs. They "head-butt" when competing for food. Click here for the really interesting article with a video if you want to watch them fight. Plant more milkweed! That is all Monarch caterpillars eat. Really.
Explained here.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar

This looks a lot like something from Alice in Wonderland, doesn't it? I photographed this Monarch butterfly caterpillar munching on one of my milkweed plants and I honestly did not know they had a head on both ends. No wonder they can defoliate a plant almost overnight. But the milkweed always bounces back and produces more leaves for these beautiful caterpillars. Shot with my iPhone.

Sharing is caring.