Bursting With Activity

The side garden is a busy place right now. It does not matter if I visit at morning, noon or evening, the milkweed is cluttered with bees, beetles, ants and aphids.

This photo only shows a portion of the milkweed. The fragrance is heady this time of year. Early evening carries one of those “knock you down” perfumes. We have seen a few monarchs flitting about. Have found no evidence of caterpillars yet. There seem to be tiny white/cream eggs on the underside of the leaves. They hatch so tiny that until I see actual holes in the leaves I cannot be certain we have newborns.

Until then, I enjoy the busy pollinators.

Even the bachelor buttons are humming with bees. Made me wonder how much pollen these plants produce? Do the bees run out after a few days? Seemingly not.

Looking this idea up on the internet I found these facts! “Very fond of milkweed blossoms, bees will desert other flowers when these are available. The plants provide a good nectar flow. Bees discard the pollen.  Assuming enough plants are available, milkweeds can bring a good crop of honey.” says https://www.beeculture.com/milkweeds-honey-plants/ Oops. I was only thinking pollen not nectar. Our bees are mixing it up between those two plants!

Will keep you posted as the milkweed gets taller and taller. Bob says it is taking over the garden. Jumps the rock border and tries growing out in the yard, where it is promptly mowed down. We started the seeds several years ago and have been rewarded with caterpillar feeding, raising and releasing after chrysalis.