Last spring, I purchased a few Swamp Milkweed plants (Asclepias Incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’) at my local native plant sale. I knew these were native to my region and therefore could handle my poor soil conditions. I also liked the white blooms and knew exactly where I could place them in my garden beds:
Soon after these were planted in the ground however, the evil aphids arrived. The first reaction I had was to destroy the little f’ers but also stuck with my strong belief in not using any chemicals whatsoever when treating plant issues. I knew I could attempt to hose off the aphids but something told me to just let it be. I’m glad I did.
Within days of the aphid parade, the lady bugs showed up and started to chow down on the aphids:
I loved watching it all go down and to my surprise, didn’t care about how the plants looked as a result. I am your typical OCD gardener when it comes to design so this was a nice development in my maturity as a gardener. And it only got more interesting from there.
I knew the swamp milkweed would attract butterflies and all sorts of other creatures, but admittedly, did not know that it was the sole host plant for the monarch caterpillar/butterfly. In early August, I snapped these shots in a manic state of excitement:
Hot damn! Sweet! I didn’t give a rat’s behind that all of my plants were getting completely destroyed and stripped of all their foliage:
About a week or so later, I found two beautifully sculpted chrysalis:
And two weeks after that:
All I could think of at that moment was how sad it would be if someone were to sacrifice this incredible exhibit of nature at it’s best just to make their plants “look pretty”. This may be the greatest lesson I’ve learned over the years and I urge you to do the same.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Take a look at the photo below. This is the same previously destroyed plant from above, in early Fall. The foliage came back like gangbusters. Man, I can’t get enough of this stuff:
Keep it real
ONG
John I’m learning a lot from visiting your post.
I too, have decided to leave the chemicals alone, I would hate to deter or kill of those beautiful butterflies that you attracted to your yard with out even knowing it…What a cool surprise that was! I enjoyed the photos and the trip down memory lane.
Wow that is amazing!!! Too cool I will have to see if swap milkweed grows in my neck of the woods!
I love it. And I loved your reaction of wonder and excitement throughout the whole cycle of life unfolding in your garden!
Love it…and if ever I needed another reason to plant Asclepias this season, you’ve given it to me!
Lessons in gardening don’t get much more beautiful than this! I’m glad you didn’t take action against the aphids (I would have had a terrible time looking away) and so happy you shared the benefits of chemical free gardening! Good on ya!
Good for you, John, hard to resist the temptation to blast the bugs, but you persevered! Thank you for the good lesson.
You are so right not to get overly precious about the foliage if it means producing a butterfly. However, I will never feel that way about snails and slugs….
Oh, how lucky you are! I plant tons of milkweed but I’m not exactly on the path of migrating monarchs. Maybe they don’t want to fly this high up into the mountains? Anyhoo, I loved this post and the beautiful photos, too.
If you want to get Black Swallowtails as well plant dill in your herb garden. Walked outside one day last summer to harvest the dill and it was covered. Next day nothing but twigs. The caterpillar looks very much like the Monarch and the butterflies are gorgeous. Also nice work with the lady bugs-great biological control!
Oh Yikes, when I first read the title of this piece I thought, this guy is dangerous, doesn’t he appreciate insects? Then I read it and LOVED your enthusiasm and the awakening of how important these natives are.
I wish I had all natives, but I don’t. I grow fruit trees, herbs, veggies, I’m a sucker.
Thanks for this posting.
Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island
I just love how nature just takes care of itself. Take that aphids!