(Almost) Daily Plant Photos

24• he/him Zone 7b Piedmont Region

[junyphotos]

Bleeding Hearts

4/7/26

[junyphotos]

Golden Alexanders

4/6/26

[junyphotos]

Flower of the Pawpaw

4/5/26

[anipgarden]

Some of you may have heard about Monarch butterflies being added to the Threatened species list in the US and be planning to immediately rush out in spring and buy all the milkweed you can manage to do your part and help the species.

And that's fantastic!! Starting a pollinator garden and/or encouraging people and businesses around you to do the same is an excellent way to help not just Monarchs but many other threatened and at-risk pollinator species!

However.

Please please PLEASE do not obtain Tropical Milkweed for this purpose!

Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)--also commonly known as bloodflower, Mexican butterflyweed, and scarlet milkweed--will likely be the first species of milkweed you find for sale at most nurseries. It'll be fairly cheap, too, and it grows and propagates so easily you'll just want to grab it! But do not do that!

Tropical milkweed can cause a host of issues that can ultimately harm the butterflies you're trying to help, such as--

Harboring a protozoan parasite called OE (which has been linked to lower migration success, reductions in body mass, lifespan, mating success, and flight ability) for long periods of time

Remaining alive for longer periods, encouraging breeding during migration time/overwintering time as well as keeping monarchs in an area until a hard freeze wherein which they die

Actually becoming toxic to monarch caterpillars when exposed to warmer temperatures associated with climate change

However--do not be discouraged!! There are over 100 species of milkweed native to the United States, and plenty of resources on which are native to your state specifically! From there, you can find the nurseries dedicated to selling native milkweeds, or buy/trade for/collect seeds to grow them yourself!!

The world of native milkweeds is vast and enchanting, and I'm sure you'll soon find a favorite species native to your area that suits your growing space! There's tons of amazing options--whether you choose the beautiful pink vanilla-smelling swamp milkweed, the sophisticated redring milkweed, the elusive purple milkweed, the alluring green antelopehorn milkweed, or the charming heartleaf milkweed, or even something I didn't list!

And there's tons of resources and lots of people willing to help you on your native milkweed journey! Like me! Feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions!

Just. PLEASE. Leave the tropical milkweed alone. Stay away.

TLDR: Start a pollinator garden to help the monarchs! Just don't plant tropical milkweed. There's hundreds of other milkweeds to grow instead!

[raindropsonwhiskers]

This!!

Also, if you're invested in monarch conservation and you're a USA citizen, please please please consider leaving a comment on the federal register. This is how the federal government hears your opinions, and the updated listing of the monarch is a bit controversial, so your input is really necessary!!

If you want to do more to help, I would suggest looking into the Monarch Joint Venture, Monarch Watch, the Xerxes Society, or looking into pesticide/herbicide reduction and sustainable agriculture initiatives in your area.

I literally just wrapped up a semester-long case study on this topic, so I have some additional details on why tropical milkweed/OE is an issue below the cut

To go into a bit more detail, tropical milkweed (native to parts of Mexico/South America but NOT the USA) is higher in cardenolides than most milkweed species native to the USA. Cardenolides are the compound that give monarchs their toxic defenses, but they're still ultimately a defense mechanism for the milkweed - and overconsumption of cardenolides can harm or kill monarch caterpillars. The concentration of cardenolides in milkweed has been shown to increase as temperatures rise, so putting an already high-cardenolide species in a warming area can create major problems for monarchs.

As for OE, this parasite can cause monarch wings to tear or crumple (making them unable to fly), split their proboscis (which they need to feed), or cause them to straight-up explode. Infection happens via consumption of the spores while the monarchs are still caterpillars, and higher spore consumption correlates to more intense effects. These spores are dropped by the adult monarchs, typically onto the milkweed plants where those adults lay their eggs. Those eggs then hatch and consume the spores alongside their normal diet of milkweed.

Native milkweed dies back every year, meaning that the OE spores die (or become inaccessible to monarch caterpillars), too. Tropical milkweed blooms year-round and will NOT die back unless manually cut, which allows those spores to build up year after year. This leads to higher infection rates because those OE spores stay dormant and can last for YEARS until they reach the gut of a caterpillar.

Tropical milkweed can also lead to migratory monarchs losing their migratory behavior, essentially tricking them into thinking that they've reached the endpoint of their migratory cycle. This can, again, lead to more OE infection, as well as increasing the transmission risk for other diseases.

If you're interested in learning more about this stuff, look up the resident monarch population in Florida (a hotbed for tropical milkweed plantings thanks to its climate). The OE infection rates there bounce between 50-100% depending on the year, while the average infection rate across the migratory population is about 10%.

[junyphotos]

I’m so lucky to have seen this lil guy today. It landed right in front of me as I happened to be walking by. It’s my first time seeing a Monarch in the wild!!

[junyphotos]

Garden Update:

My Oakleaf Hydrangea blooms started turning pink! I bought it late in the fall and it was unmarked, so this is an exciting surprise

[junyphotos]

Beardtongue

Penstemon

[junyphotos]

Tickseed

Coreopsis

[junyphotos]

Busy Bees 🐝

[junyphotos]

Achillea Millefolium

Yarrow

[smilingwind]

[junyphotos]

Early summer blooms!

[sovietnam]

[creepymutelilbugger]

shout out to marshy boardwalk, gotta be one of my fav genders

[junyphotos]

Garden Update #2

Feat. Obligatory dog photos (Jitter decided to join us this morning!)

[junyphotos]

[junyphotos]

Photos from the Chesapeake Bay

[junyphotos]

Amsonia Tabernaemontana

5/3/2024