This Week in My Garden - June 17

Giant Swallowtail on a Wafer Ash

Native Plants: Feeding the Next Generation of Butterflies

One of the greatest rewards of planting native plants—and a few well-adapted companions—is discovering the wildlife they support. Every season brings new visitors, and lately my garden has become a bustling nursery for caterpillars.

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillars on Passionfruit Vine

Earlier this week, I noticed that my Passionfruit vine was looking a little worse for wear. The leaves were ragged and disappearing quickly. Today I found the culprits: two Gulf Fritillary caterpillars happily munching away.

Rather than being disappointed by the damage, I was thrilled. Gulf Fritillary caterpillars feed exclusively on Passionflower and Passionfruit vines, so their presence means my garden is providing exactly what they need. Seeing them discover my vine felt like a small victory.

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Common Buckeyes Find the Snake Herb

Not long ago, I spotted three caterpillars feasting on my Snake Herb. Using the Seek app, I identified them as Common Buckeye caterpillars.

A little research confirmed why they had chosen this plant. Snake Herb is an important larval host for the Common Buckeye butterfly, as well as the Cyna Blue butterfly. It's always exciting to learn that a plant is serving a purpose beyond simply looking beautiful in the landscape.

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A Hungry Pipevine Swallowtail

I've been keeping a close eye on my Dutchman's Pipevine, hoping to find Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars. For weeks, I saw nothing. Then one day I discovered a single, very large caterpillar—and very little pipevine left.

The hungry caterpillar had nearly stripped three of my streetside plants. To give it a better chance, I carefully moved it to the Dutchman's Pipevine growing in my backyard, where it continued its feast.

A few days later, it disappeared.

I'm hopeful that it successfully pupated and that I'll soon spot a Pipevine Swallowtail fluttering through the garden. Of course, nature has many outcomes, and it's possible the caterpillar became a meal for a bird. Either way, the ecosystem benefited.

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Lunch on my new Wafer Ash

And today, I was very excited to see what I first thought was a piece of leaf litter, or maybe even bird droppings, but as I looked closer (and had Dave take a photo) I realized it was some sort of Swallowtail. 

I purchased this tree specifically because it was the larval food for the Giant Swallowtail. 

So, very excited when Google images id'ed it as a Giant Swallowtail. Google tells me that the caterpillar used mimicry to look like bird droppings. (It worked!)

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The Garden Comes Full Circle

One of the most satisfying parts of gardening is watching plants become part of a larger story. The leaves that disappear today become the butterflies that drift through the garden tomorrow.

Seeing caterpillars thrive on the plants I've chosen reminds me that a garden is much more than a collection of flowers—it is a habitat.

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A Bonus Visitor: Bordered Patch Butterfly

Near the Common Buckeyes, I also spotted a beautiful Bordered Patch butterfly.

These butterflies are especially fond of Zexmenia, which grows abundantly throughout my yard. It's another reminder that when we plant for wildlife, the wildlife often finds us.

Every caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly is proof that even a small garden can make a difference.

This Week in My Garden - October 30

The Day the Monarchs Stopped by

Today, the Monarchs came through my yard. At one point, I counted sixty—scattered between the front and back gardens. They weren’t fluttering so much as clinging, their wings folded close as they fed. The Shrubby Boneset and Plateau Goldeneye were heavy with them, and even the self-sown Drummond’s Aster in the back corner shimmered with orange.

They seemed hungry—driven. When I stepped closer, they lifted briefly into the air, then settled again, clinging to the blossoms like living ornaments.

By the next morning, a cold front had swept in, and the garden felt strangely still. I haven’t seen many butterflies since.

Still, watching them pass through was a beautiful reminder of the quiet power of planting native species — how even a single yard can become a small haven on their long journey.

This Week in My Garden - Sept 8

Ahhh — the first tender breath of autumn has arrived. 

Yesterday’s rain summoned a few mushrooms from the earth. And above me, a soft, swirling column of wings— a gentle spiral of at least 200 Mississippi Kites, slowly drifting southward in quiet grace.

A few of my fall favorites are beginning to reveal their seasonal colors. The golden blooms of Esperanza and Lindheimer Senna brighten the landscape, while the Beautyberry offers its striking contrast—lime green foliage adorned with vivid clusters of purple. Nearby, the soft lavender spikes of Obedient Plant and the deep, velvety purple of Mexican Bush Sage begin to glow in the gentler light.

It’s that quiet turning point in the garden—the time when purples and yellows take center stage, weaving together summer’s warmth and autumn’s hush in one last burst of color.

This week in my Garden - August 17

Ripe Persimmons (sort of)

I have been watching my newly discovered Persimmon tree on a daily basis. And yesterday saw a black fruit that was sort of squishy. I thought I'd try my luck and wait just one more day! I came back today, and it had disappeared. Not surprising, as their is not much fruit available to our wildlife this time of year. But, I did learn online that Texas Persimmons will ripen off the tree. So I picked three mostly black but still hard persimmons, and put them on my inside windowsill. Since I am the only one in the household who has ever eaten a persimmon, I want the first time to be a sweet experience. So hopefully in a few days, they can give them a try, and will like them!

More Sweet Everlasting?

I have seen a few of these growing in the back lot, but wasn't sure what they were. Seek didn't provide any answers, but google thinks they might be Sweet Everlasting. Given the large number of Sweet Everlasting plants in the back, i am guessing that is correct. This Wikipedia article indicates the plant is a biennial, so next year it will shoot up. Seem believable, as compared to the biennial Standing Cypress I have grown. I will keep a watch over time to see if it shoots up.

I can't find much else about this plant online. But did find this site that says " The plant also gives off a wonderful maple syrup smell, making it a nice addition to any garden." Not something i noticed, even when taking cuttings from it (all of which failed)

This week in my garden - August 11

Smallflower Groundcherry
I have been watching my newly discovered Smallflower Groundcherry every time I go walk in the back wood. After coming back from vacation for two weeks, I was excited to see a small bloom on it.

And just a few days later, the bloom seems to be turning into, maybe, a small fruit?

I'll keep an eye on it over the next few weeks to see what develops!

The flower hangs upside down on the plant

And here is a nice article about groundcherries: https://www.backyardnature.net/n/h/physalis.htm

Gulf Coast Toads

We have been hearing a lot of frog song from my tiny pond recently. When I checked in on them this morning, I found two toads (Gulf Coast Toads, according to iNat). But, upon closer inspection, realized that there were actually three toads. 

The larger toad had a smaller toad on its back. A quick google search informed me that the smaller toad is the male, waiting for the larger female toad to release her eggs, so he can fertilize them externally. So, I am guessing that I might soon have some more tad poles in the pond :)

Flame Leaf Sumac

Our flame leaf sumac is in bloom. Hopefully that is a sign that summer is coming to an end, and fall will soon be here. 

Rain

An unexpected rain shower in August in Texas is a glorious thing!!

We had an unexpected thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. We had some thunder, and even lost power for a bit. This was a very localized cell. I always feel like we are under a rain dome, with the storms hitting all around us. But yesterday, we were the beneficiary. I don't think we got the 1.77 inches that someone in Oak Hill reported, but I believe we got half an inch!  Everything looks very happy right now. 

This week in my garden -June 30

 It is starting to get to that hot and dry period, where the only good thing in the garden seems to be that some of my plants have not yet wilted.

But I took another walk in my back area, and found this swarm of bugs on my pearl milkweed vine. I used Seek to identify them, and it says Large Milkweed bug.  Well, huh. I guess that makes sense, lol.

A quick google search shows that they are not typically harmful to plants as they typically feed only on the seeds. Yep, looking at the photo above, I’ll agree with that!

From https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/large-milkweed-bug 

Description

The large milkweed bug, with its bold black-and-orange pattern, is one of the most beautiful of the true bugs. It is one of several species in its genus, with all having similar coloration but different patterns. In this species, each forewing has, from front to back, an orange, front-pointing triangle, a wide black band, and an orange backward-pointing triangle; then, the outer, membranous portion of the forewing is black. Also note that the pronotum (the shield-like plate, like shoulders, between the head and wings) has a black, forward-pointing triangle bordered on either side by orange.

A Although in laboratories, large milkweed bugs have been able to survive on the seeds of some other types of plants, including sunflower and watermelon, these are not the preferred foods in the wild, and these insects are not a problem for human crops.

If you are growing milkweeds on purpose, you will probably find large milkweed bugs more of a nuisance (if even that) than a pest. Unless you have an exceptionally large number of these bugs, they generally do not damage milkweed plants very much. Since many people are growing milkweeds to serve as native insect food plants — for monarchs, milkweed tussock moths, and so on — keep in mind that these colorful native bugs are helped by your efforts, too.

This week in the garden - June 20

This week, as summer starts feeling very real, there are still a few surprises in the garden.

Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars

Most exciting, the Wafer Ash that I planted in the fall is already hosting some Giant Swallowtail caterpillars!!  I noticed two of them about a week ago, and there are at least four now.  While I know the birds need food right now, I'm really hoping these little ones make it to butterfly stage.

A new Zizotes!

Also, this year I let one part of the front lawn go un-mowed. I was very excited to find an antelope horn milkweed randomly pop up in the mix of grass, weeds and wildflowers a few weeks ago.

This week, I saw a plant I didn't recognize, and Seek informed me that it was a Zizotes Milkweed. Whether this popped up on its own, or was from a seed blown from my other Zizotes, I don't know. But since I have never witnessed my other Zizotes blooming until this year, I am guessing this was a random gift!