Monarchs, slugs and milkweed bugs! They were all on my mind this week as I put together this video showcasing some of our latest wild visitors. Its main message? To encourage gardeners to nurture habitat for all creatures, not just the glamorous ones. At this time of year, many people are picking off, squishing, and even spraying any insects on their milkweed plants who aren’t the iconic monarch butterfly. But you can have habitat for monarchs and still support all the other fans of milkweed, too. Here’s how—and why—I welcome all creatures, from the slugs to the butterflies to the wasps to the deer, to my humane garden.
I think common milkweed is my favorite milkweed of all, just because it is a magnet for so many other insects. Along with critters you mentioned, I also found crab spiders and ambush bugs just waiting for a “snack” to stop by. And how about finding legs or the insects themselves who got stuck in the milkweed!
Look closely at the aphids and you find lacewing eggs and larvae of lacewings and ladybeetles. And late at night beautiful moths visit! Heavenly fragrance and yes Monarchs too!
Hi Consuelo! Yes! I just saw a crab spider yesterday, too, plus a very interesting little grasshopper-looking guy with a pink stripe down the middle (not a candy striped leafhopper but something subtler with more of a grasshopper shape?). I also love seeing the furry milkweed tiger moths and even the aphids. I’ll have to try to peer with a magnifier to find lacewing eggs — I’m sure they are here, but I haven’t seen them with my bad eyes.
I do get sad when I see those poor stuck bumblebees. I have managed to free some, but sometimes you just don’t see them in time. I know that’s life, but it seems so unnecessary!
Can’t wait for that heavenly fragrance next year. 🙂
Love your video and am envious. Have been growing milkweed for many years now ever since I helped children create clay mural installations and make pottery depicting the life cycles and migrations of the Monarch. I watch closely for the cats to appear every summer. Sadly, have never seen one make it to larger than an inch long and much less seen a chrysalis as we have so many predators. I have done nothing to destroy or disturb predators but have to admit I sure wish we could see more cats survive! Have added more types of milkweeds this year. Lucky you!
Terry, do you think it’s possible you’ve had a chrysalis somewhere but didn’t see it? They do tend to migrate pretty far away from the milkweed to pupate, and as a result, we’ve never seen a monarch chrysalis! I see freshly hatched monarchs quite often here, drying out their wings, all wrinkly and wet … and every time, I think, darn, where WAS the chrysalis? 🙂 But there are just so many plants here that they could be hanging from; I have no idea how I would find them unless I actually watched the cats move along at the end stage.
Hi Nancy! Your video teaches us to respect all creatures and that no being is happy in captivity. We have to teach our kids not to kill any insects. The other day I escorted out a spider that was at my mom’s bathroom. Down here is winter but we’ve seen a few butterflies, a couple of bees and lots of degus (octodon degus ). Nature is a gift we have to cherish!
Aw, lucky spider to have you looking out for her! 🙂 And on my gosh, you have given me a new rodent to fall in love with! I just looked them up online – so cute! Do they live in your garden?
They’re smart because they know the dogs. So they walk around in the countryside. If they come in we escort them out where they can be safe.