More Of Them This Year The population of Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) has been dwindling down to a point of concern that they may be heading toward extinction. With a small patch of garden, we try our best to help them by letting the Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) grow. It’s the only plant that Monarch caterpillars eat. I didn’t grow the first milkweed. It came … Continue reading Monarch
Weed Flowers Most people hate weeds, maybe with an exception for Cannabis. I don’t like weeds either but as I turn our little garden patch back to nature, to make it into a sanctuary for other species as well as ourselves, I have to learn to get along with weeds. When I walk through a farmer’s market, I also note that they sell many flowers we … Continue reading Flowers For Pollinators III
And Snow, Right On Schedule Today is the official first day of winter and it has been snowing lightly on and off all day. It’s very peaceful and quiet outside, the only sound the birds singing. The birds are the only bright colors in the garden at this time and without them it’s a plain brown and gray everywhere we look. We couldn’t fill the feeders … Continue reading First Day Of Winter
Yes, Looks Very Much Like Summer Today is the official first day of summer and the garden looks very much like summer. The weather is also perfect..cool, sunny, with a little breeze. Juvenile birds tag along with their parents and wait to be fed on branches near by. The chicks from the second family of Tree Swallows learn to fly by gliding around the garden. … Continue reading First Day Of Summer
Growing Milkweed I forgot about an article I had read on the effort to rescue the Monarch butterflies from extinction. Setting the Table for a Regal Butterfly Comeback, With Milkweed by Michael Wines in The New York Times on 12/20 may be old news but it is still good news for pollinators, and the Monarchs specifically. It would be very interesting to see wild native flowers … Continue reading Helping Monarchs And Other Pollinators
Yes, It’s a Weed But…. I have no idea how Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) aka Milkweed came to be in our garden. They just showed up two years ago and have stayed ever since. Getting rid of it proved to be not an easy task, but taming it is quite easy. I just pull the stalk out of the ground. The first year it showed … Continue reading Milkweed
Heading Toward Extinction? An article in The New York Times yesterday entitled Monarch Migration Plunges To Lowest Level in Decades by Michael Wines leaves me saddened and disappointed. Though the article mentioned that it’s “due mostly to extreme weather and a change in farming practices in North America.” It doesn’t matter whether it is caused by the weather or farming practice, we can help slow the pace of extinction. … Continue reading Disappearing Monarch
Petals and Wings 