Thanks, everyone! Yeah, my nicknames are "Smiley" and "Dimples". I do genealogy and I have a picture of my 2nd great-grandma and we have the same dimples. The one dimple is deeper than the other on her face, too! It's super neat. In case you never noticed, Monarchs have much thicker legs than other butterflies so believe me, I felt that thing on my nose!
Wildflowers does sound better than weeds.
You just have to figure that these are the flowers the butterflies evolved with over who knows how many eons. So I like to think they've developed a taste for them. There isn't a single butterfly that doesn't like the Spanish Needles. I don't see the Swallowtails on them but I think that's only because the butterflies are too heavy to balance properly. In fact, it's pretty rare to see a Monarch on them. That's only the second time I've gotten a Monarch photo on Spanish Needles.
I was actually searching the pellitory today and that's why I went over to the neighbor's yard in the first place. They always have a much bigger patch of it than I get in my yard. Granted, I'm on a half-acre and they have nearly ten. And since I saw that Red Admiral yesterday, I was sure I'd find a caterpillar. But no luck today. I wasn't as thorough since I was a little nervous about being on their property. The previous owner died about a year ago and his granddaughter and her boyfriend are there now. Let's just say the police have been there more in the last six months than in the previous twenty years I've lived here. So I was trying to be quick and look innocent (the dimples totally help).
And don't be afraid to show your messy garden on this thread. I've been pointing out to my trainee at MOSI all the things that are considered "weeds" that are actually host plants or just good nectar plants. I've never been the type for those manicured gardens, anyway. I mean, I can appreciate them from a design perspective, but I'd rather just be in the woods. Or the swamp, as is the case in most of Florida.
Okay, I'm off to pick a few more milkweed leaves to feed the monsters...er...Monarchs before I go to bed!
