monarchs &amp; milkweed patches

I saw three huge monarch caterpillars in the main milkweed patch (~60 plants) yesterday. they were all chomping on leaves. and then went out to the second largest patch (~25 plants) and there was a monarch butterfly fluttering around them - but before I could capture a photo of it on the plants, it flew up into a tall ash (probably green ash) tree at the treeline.

I probably should name my milkweed patches now that I have a couple well-established groups. I'll have to think about that. There are a few others that are slowly getting established - but until I count at least 10 plants in an area I don't consider it a "patch" - and the rabbits tend to decimate any small group of 2-4 plants pretty quick, which is why I still only have two groups I consider patches.

Each of these patches grow naturally. I have not planted any plants or distributed any seed in these patches. I sometimes stake them after a big storm, and I try and "weed" around each plant as it grows, to provide it room to flourish. But I mostly just leave it alone and try to observe them daily to see how they grow, what grows with them, and who visits them.

The one thing I tried last year was to prune the tops of a couple plants to see if they would provide new leaf growth that would flourish through the summer, and it seemed to work, so this year I am very slowly and conservatively pruning the tops of plants. once a week I will go out and prune 1-5 plants. Sometimes it's simply a plant that has already been damaged by critters or a storm, and I will, if there are any leaves left, prune just above the lowest branch of leaves (there's probably a name for that, isn't there?), but if there are no leaves left I will cut down to the ground. I thought this would inspire new growth from the root, but so far I've only seen one new plant emerge from the ground (I took a photo of it yesterday - I've never seen a new sapling in July, so it's great to see one!). When I prune intentionally for new leaf growth I try to leave at least a few seed pods (if there are any), and prune right above them.

It's lovely to see all the pollinators in the milkweed. I have spied multiple varieties of moths - and of course, ants & bees & beetles. the past few days there is a large (100+) group of Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars on one of the plants, and they have eaten many of the leaves to the "bone". It is the first year I've seen this happen and it is fascinating.

I have a few Common Evening-Primrose growing in the main milkweed patch, and the first blooms appeared yesterday! also growing naturally in that patch is a lot of catnip that I prune throughout the spring but leave to grow. it is quite a healthy crop as long as I prune it! Other notetable plants I allow to grow in this patch are mouse-ear chickweed and forget-me-nots, which both bloom in the spring.

One of my favourite plants in the patch is a Tall Thimbleweed. it has been growing there for (at least) 4 summers now and it grows bigger & taller each year. I love how the petals of this plant fall within a few days of bloom, and the "thimbles" grow larger through the season until it seeds in the fall.

I have a lot of Pepperweed in the spring and Ragweed in the summer growing here and pull all of it up as it appears. I had an issue with a type of Bindweed last year, but it doesn't seem quite as prevalent this year - and honestly there are a couple of milkweed plants that have seemed to be helped to stand straight during storms by the bindweed that has spun around them, so I have left it to see what happens throughout the season. I also pull out: wild carrot, wild grapevine, plantain, common mullein & probably many others.

There is also poison ivy growing in this main patch. After a few attempts to get rid of it by pulling it up by the roots multiple times in one year, I have now given up and only carefully trim it a few times a year to try to keep it from spreading too far.

All the observations made in the main milkweed patch have been chosen to associate with this post. hopefully I haven't forgotten any!

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