Jmorth, thanks once again for the flashbacks your photos elicit in me of my childhood stomping grounds. I can feel the air, hear the insect sounds, and the intense activity when one gets upclose, how the grasshoppers never seem to collide with anything though they don't always stick their landings.
I have access to a similar natural area here with the same plants you have noted, though the feel is different to me. Here in the coastal Mid Atlantic on our hot humid days of summer there seems to be almost a daily pause when almost all activity ceases (even the ants aren't out!) which I don't remember from growing up there.
If you can tell me more about the dark stemmed milkweed you pictured, I would appreciate it.
