August 17, 2025

What a week we have had.  Maybe you remember that last week we found out that the new plant I had raised from seed had come down with a tremendous number of yellow Aphids, which turned out to be Aphis nerii, or Oleander Aphids.  

Finding these Aphids led me to discover, mostly through iNaturalist.org, that the new plant was in fact Swamp Milkweed!  So that was the Milkweed I had planted from seeds!  I do wish that whoever sends you the seeds would tell you a bit more about what species the seeds will grow up to become.  But they mostly don't, especially if you are like me and don't ASK!  The following picture shows you the plant that came up from my seeds.  It doesn't look like the Milkweed that they always show and tell you it is the favorite food of the caterpillars that grow up to be Monarch Butterflies!  

But to my surprise, under certain leaves there WERE a few caterpillars, mostly very small like the picture on the left.  But after a few days they had grown very fat and HUNGRY.    

The caterpillars continue to grow longer and fatter.  Yesterday Chaim and I went looking for new places to raise them, and discovered that places that were accepting Caterpillars as tenants have become few and far between.  Finally we found a couple of new homes for some of them.   Some people may be surprised this morning to find one or more of those new homes in THEIR flower beds!  Thanks, new landlords!  

Just to continue this theme, here is a Beetle called the Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle, taken by Chaim Bertman.  You may remember that the Monarch Butterfly, which we hope to be seeing soon, is also red and black.  I wonder what is in that Milkweed to produce such brilliantly-colored creatures.  This picture of the Monarch is again the one taken by Kathleen Seidl.  Thanks again, Kathleen!  I want to see one in person!

As usual, we have our collection of Flies.  Here are a Robber Fly in the  Subfamily Asiline, one of those shiny long-legged Flies, and a Smoky-winged Woodlouse Fly, Melanophora roralis.

Speaking of Flies, here is a Bathroom Moth Fly.  It looks like a Moth to me, but believe the experts, it's a Fly!  I know, we've seen it before, but it is still hanging around outside.  The second one is a member of Bot Flies, Blow Flies, and Allies, and the third is Gnophomyia tristissima, a member of the Limoniid Crane Flies.

Oh my, it is late on Sunday afternoon, and I haven't even touched upon the flowers that are starting to show up.  The Goldenrod is just aching to open suddenly but so far it is being restrained by some inner nicety.  But here are a few flowers that are beginning to appear.  These are two kinds of Asters.  They will eventually grab all our attention in places!

Well, folks, this may be about it for this week.  We spent so much (wonderful) time studying the Milkweed family that we have now gotten to latish on Sunday afternoon.  I'm sure we will see some more fascinating examples of the family of Nature in the coming week.   Take care of yourself and, of course, of your environment.  Love, Martha