September 14, 2025

Another week, a little closer to Autumn.  It's chilly at night but glorious by day.  The Goldenrod has about reached its brilliant height, and the creatures we expect to see now, we are seeing!  But there is one that showed up yesterday that shocked and delighted me and Chaim.  An adult Monarch was flapping about and seemed to be drying its wings to get ready for flight.  Here are pictures of the caterpillar in eating mode, getting ready to pupate, and in pupa form.

We waited patiently at first for the pupa to wake up and emerge, but it didn't like something about the cage it was in, and never did awaken.  But on September 12, we finally spotted a Monarch adult flapping about in the back yard.

This was a momentous occasion.  I myself had not seen an adult Monarch Butterfly this year, but had been doing the spadework for the observation:  planting the Swamp Milkweed from seed, gently rearing it even when the Oleander Aphids looked as if they would devour the whole plant before the first caterpillar showed up, moving the caterpillars out to the neighborhood and watching, watching.  Now that story seems to have had its desired conclusion.  

Now a few scrawny Milkweed plants are gathering strength in the Back Yard.  Let's hope they accumulate enough strength and girth to get through the winter to come.  Meanwhile, let's take a look at some of the plants and creatures we usually associate with Autumn in Goldenrod Season.  That Goldenrod is so extraordinary!  The color itself is glorious.  And the creatures that we see when it starts to bloom seem to advertise themselves.  Here are a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle, an Ailanthus Webworm Moth, and a Gray Hairstreak Butterfly.  

Here is an enormously long Wasp - the European Paper Wasp; a Northern Paper Wasp, and an unknown being in the Sedum flowers.

I have to say, I could not remember last week the name of the "Autumn-blooming plant", which is, as so many wonderful readers suggested, a Sedum.  As soon as the first suggestion of "Sedum" appeared, the title "Autumn Joy" sprang into my head.  Here are a fellow Autumn-appearing Beetle, the Spotted Cucumber Beetle; a member of genus Arhyssus, one of the Scentless Plant Bugs (Family Rhopalidae); and a member of genus Leiobunum.

Friends, I believe I mispoke last week when I called the following (lower left) a Harvestman.  I now think it is a Cross Orbweaver [spider].   The second creature seems to be one of the Curved-horn Moths.  But I've no clue what the final Wasp might be!

One of the creatures that seems to come on the heels of the Goldenrod is a kind of Ambush Bug.  And one of the poses those Ambush Bugs seem to be famous for in this context is - Mating.  The male is the darker blackish one and he is always on top!  I believe this mating pair are Pennsylvania Ambush Bugs!

Here are some of the colorful Asters.

These tall tall flowers are the Tall Evening Primroses, trying to top the porch roof.  On the right, two colors of Aster!

The leftmost of these two is probably Lygus gemellatus,  a member of Plant Bugs Family Miridae,   and the rightmost is probably Villa lateralis, a member of Banded Bee Flies Tribe Villini.

This is about where we say goodbye, since these last two were the last two items identified on iNaturalist.org.  Please take care of yourself and your beloved environment, and see you next week!  Love, Martha