Milkweed and Monarch Butterflies in the Creation Rose Garden

I did not see much from the Monarch butterflies until a few days ago. True to his Osage heritage, Ranger Bob spotted a swarm of butterfly caterpillars on the butterfly plants in front of the patio. They were just hatched out, not plump yet.

For years I have promoted butterfly plants, especially those catering to Monarchs, but also any plant listed as a pollinator. The result has been an overwhelming mixture of scents and butterflies of all types frolicking about. Bees consider me a good friend and never sting. Of course, I do not yell at them and swing utensils at them.

Hummingbirds have added to the delights. 

Christina ordered a front yard of roses, so they add to the overwhelming fragrance as well. 

I suggest being patient with the Monarch weeds promoted by garden suppliers. They are worth the wait.

Learning about Beneficial Insects in the Creation Garden

The Creation Garden should start with insects, which will have a profound effect on the final outcome, perhaps turning the gardener into an etymologist. This video wobbles around a lot, but the content is good. The topic demands Hollywood studio equipment to zoom in on the wee little creatures without scaring them away.

Most people would like a neater garden than the one displayed, but the principles are the same. If gardeners plan for beneficial insects and spiders, they will decrease pest damage to almost zero, without cost and without man-made toxins.

The names are enough to make anyone dizzy at first. How do I know which plants to encourage for which beneficials? The answer is simple - encourage some and let God sort out the feeding and breeding.

1. Never use pesticides in the garden. Weed-killers and fungicides are also discouraged. The only exceptions for weed-killers would be an obnoxious public nuisance, like Poison Ivy, Giant Hogweed, or Poison Hemlock.
2. Every member of the carrot family is friendly to beneficials, including carrots blooming in their second year. The carrot flowers in the video look like Queen Ann's Lace, which is called Wild Carrot. Some would yank the QAL in the yard. I encourage it and plant more along the margins.
3. Plants with a distinctive fragrance and tiny flowers attract the best insects, albeit without producing photogenic flowers. Such plants are beautiful with a macro lens: Borage and Mint families.
4. Most plants in the herb section are attractive to beneficials.
5. A plant can be big and ugly, like Comfrey, yet make up for its bulk and plain appearance by producing hundreds of flowers for butterflies and bees.

Unusual and Fun Plants

Most of us have a basic knowledge of plants, and we look for old favorites, which remind us of the past. Here are some examples of new plants that surprised me, several from Almost Eden next door.

Joe Pye Weed

I kept hearing this name and finding the plant gone later in the season. Finally I ordered two and saw them reach a respectable size the first year. Beware of such a modest start. The second year it reached its full size, blooming at 6 - 7 feet, with large lavender flowers. The plant smelled like foot cream but the flowers are more like vanilla. In the first and second years, butterflies and beneficials always flocked around it and flew away from the bloom. Late in the season it can look old and weedy, true to its name, but new plant and flower growth continue. Always order this one early.

Clethra - Summer Sweet - Cinnabon Shrub - Prima Donna

I obtained two of these from Almost Eden and moved them to the rose garden once Chaste Tree elbowed them aside. This one is a star and deserves a place of honor. It grows about 5 feet tall and blooms later in the season, like Joe Pye. When I bumped its flowers in the past, tiny insects would exit, almost like pixie dust. After I gave the two shrubs a spotlight in the front, I noticed the shrub's unique sweet cinnamon fragrance. If I forget the shrub, a damp breeze from the garden reminds me of its star status.

Chaste Tree - Medicine Shrub 

This shrub loves the sun, hates being watering, comes alive from pruning, and smells like lineament. Twice I did my extra one wrong. Twice I went back to the directions and pruned it back hard. Both times a sickly or dead shrub burst into leaves again. This one will grow rather big for the garden but can be pruned easily. Its pure blue flowers are adored by bumble bees, so its constant supply and unusual looks are enhanced by the constant motion of the bees. Its oil is sold for a very high price.

Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop

The Starving Monarch Butterfly: A Parable of Creation

Adult Monarch Butterfly

Some people feel much better about Creation if the six 24-hour days are stretched out to six epochs. This allows a blending of Creation and evolution. Many have felt this was an ideal solution, but I have found a terrible flaw in their reasoning.

Of course, as any world religions professor (atheist) would be glad to propose, there are endless versions of Creation, some of them gross and disgusting. How this clarifies the situation is beyond my comprehension, but it is often said, to justify a modern mytho-poetic counterpart to what they call the Creation myth.

The foundational flaw is naturally the power and efficacy of the divine Word, which is not dependent upon time or the approval of man. Addressing Creation with science is like pounding tent-stakes with a manual lawmower. It can be done, awkwardly, but why even try?

I was planning a butterfly garden for myself and others when I went over the basics in my mind. When my mother lived with us in New Ulm, she spotted milkweed growing nearby and snagged some caterpillers for us to watch. We obtained a large glass jar, installed the caterpillers on a stick, and fed them milkweed leaves daily. The following shows what happened.

The ever fatter caterpiller weaves a jade coffin with golden nails, far more beautiful than the photo above. Here is a close-up -

 The so-called golden nails really look metallic.

He turns into liquid and reconstitutes himself as a Monarch butterfly. The wings show through and he emerges, ready to lay eggs on milkweed, the only food for the babies to eat as they grow.

Here is his problem with hybrid Creation. Lacking milkweed, the eggs hatch with nothing to eat. Some butterflies can use various plants for their young, but not Monarchs.

Monarch Notes:
Q. What do monarch butterflies eat?
A. Adult butterflies eat nectar and water. Sometimes liquid from fruits. Larvae eat only milkweed.

Thus the Monarch life cycle requires milkweed immediately available.

But, the rationalist objects, God would have created the milkweed first and the butterflies second, taking millions and billions of years.

Then we have hundreds of thousands of other objections, since all life requires other life-forms above and below them on the food pyramid. 

No, this does not prove Creation, which is revealed by the Word. But we can reverse engineer Creation - in a feeble way - and see these hundreds of relationships before our eyes.

The Monarch's life cycle is a miracle and that is God's work. We may see it any summer day, anywhere, but it is still astonishing to watch:

• Egg
• Caterpiller
• Tent-maker
• Goo - where the caterpiller turns inself into liquid!
• Butterfly.

Milkweed pods

 Milkweed in bloom

 Butterfly Weed is closely related to Milkweed, but not appealing to Monarchs. However, BW does attract other butterflies and is just as colorful as this photo shows.

Monarch Butterfly on the Sunflowers

People complain about the lack of butterflies, but do they plant butterfly flowers? If all goes well, I will have butterfly bush and butterfly weed in my yard. For now, sunflowers are attracting all kinds of attention. Next year I will buy sunflower seed by the pound (mammoth or striped - giant Russian) and have rows of them to amuse and intimidate.

Yesterday, after I pruned our roses with grandson Alex, I found a Monarch butterfly on the sunflowers. A variety of flowers will provide a constant food source for all the pollinating creatures. Parsley attracts the Black Swallowtail, which I saw as soon as I had parsley growing on compost (upside-down turf) in Midland. My parsley was so sublime that the Parsley Patch owner came over to harvest it to sell to the fancy French restaurant in town.

You can buy this butterfly notecard from Norma Boeckler's Zazzle website - CreatingIsFun.

My mystery novel is named Metamorphosis, which will make sense by the end of the book.

Exotics Can Be Found in Our Own Backyards - But We Take Them for Granted

Have you seen a murmuration of starlings,
where they weave patterns in the sky by constantly changing group flight patterns?
We watched during a church picnic, transfixed by the ever-changing shapes created.

I lost track of the Facebook page on jeweled spiders from Australia, with some remarkable photos in the article.

I decided to Google the images and could not find anything close to the article, so I wondered if it was a hoax. I could find the category and examples, but they did not look like walking stained glass windows - except for the one photo of a jewelry case in the shape of a spider.

Nothing would surprise me about exotic animals, especially those in Australia, where they seem to be larger, more colorful, and more dangerous than anywhere else except Africa. They even have giant earthworms in Australia.

Everyone loves the Sassy grin.

Sassy is learning her Australian culture, since she is half Australian Cattle Dog, bred from the tough little dingo wild dog of that continent. We sing Waltzing Matilda and the Cattle Dog Blues in the car. That proved useful when we were waiting for tires at Goodyear. Two customers became very interested in her behavior and three legs, so we sang the Cattle Dog Blues, with Sassy howling the chorus. They loved it so much that Sassy pawed my leg to get the second verse going, where she howled again. She loves attention. The customers wrote down the Sassy blog's name so they could look it up later.

When she begins yipping in a high-pitched voice, we chide her about "going full Kelpie." That is another name for the Cattle Dog - Kelpie. When she hears that Kelpie name, she really sounds off.

She used that call to get the Helper family out of their house. Mrs. Helper asks for the happy bark when we stop by. Sassy responds with her German Shepherd voice, a very loud but lower pitched bark, sent left and right for full coverage. "There's that happy bark!" And she barks some more. In contrast, the Kelpie yip is high pitched and penetrating, one sharp warning or alert.

She yips if anyone tries to pick her up or comes close to stepping on her. She is especially sensitive because of her amputation and recuperation, but she is also quite the drama queen.

She is one of those homegrown exotics that people often overlook. Sassy is unusually smart and independent, cleverly working on us to understand her way of doing things. I asked her to move over on the bed, so she rolled over for loveys. If Mrs. Ichabod does not join in pettting her, Sassy looks back to get a second person petting her at the same time. She grins about this because her independent actions make us laugh each time.

Butterfly Weed is related to Milkweed, named Asclepias for the healing properties of this family.

I am hoping that Butterfly Weed will grow in my yard. I planted some along the fence. In time they should show themselves. The attracts butterflies in general but also helps other plants - a companion plant.

Once upon a time Milkweed was common, and so were Monarch butterflies. Now people are wishing for more butterflies and worry about the loss of the Monarch.

I think I spotted some local Milkweed on my walk. A stand of them would support some Monarch caterpillars, but I doubt one plant in the sidewalk crack will do it.

Here the Monarch, in his jade coffin with golden nails. The wing markings are visible. Shortly before he was a fat caterpillar with none of this coloring - no gold frills. I am not going to get jeweled spiders in my yard, but I can raise these and even hatch them in a glass jar, as I did years ago in New Ulm.

No one is sure if the golden nails have a function. I consider it showboating by the Creator. If you ever doubt the power of the Creating Word, look at what He does with with a homely caterpillar that dines on milkweed sap.