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Posts Tagged: Asclepias curassavica
Gotta Love Those Monarch 'Cats
Did you celebrate National Cat Day on Oct. 29? We haven't had a cat since our 16-year-old tuxedo, Xena the Warrior Princess crossed the Rainbow Bridge in March of 2016. She sported a butterflylike marking on her left leg. Monarch butterflies fascinated...
A monarch caterpillar chomping on showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa, in a Vacavile garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two monarch caterpillars devouring the leaves of a narrowleafed milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A very hungry caterpillar on milkweed in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch caterpillar and a bee on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Xena the Warrior Princess (2000-2016) checking out a monarch butterfly in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Year 2023: What Does the Year Hold for Monarchs and Tropical Milkweed?
Do monarch butterflies know what they want/need? Apparently so, from personal observation. Over the years, we've grown multiple species of milkweed in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. We give them a choice. The species...
A monarch caterpillar feeding on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch nectaring on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bees and other pollinators frequent tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gray Hairstreak Host Plant: A Record of Some Kind?
Where are the monarch butterflies? They're MIA on the four species of milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator garden But milkweed attracts other insects, including honey bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, assassin bugs, syrphid flies, leafcutter...
The gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, finds a play her lay her eggs, on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gray hairstreak, Strymon melinus, laying eggs on the buds of a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey Bees Do Love That Milkweed
Don't tell the honey bees. They will forage where they want to--whether it's on bee balm, a dandelion or that controversial tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. Just before we cut back the tropical milkweed for the season, the honey bees...
A honey bee nectars on tropical milkweed, while another bee gets ready to join her. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
These two honey bees can't get enough of this tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bees and tropical milkweed blossoms make for a pretty image. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bee-Line Toward the Tropical Milkweed
Honey bees just can't get enough of our tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. We plant three species of milkweed (the host plant for the monarchs), but both the monarchs and the honey bees gravitate toward A. curassavica,...
A honey bee forages on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in a Vacaville pollinator garden on July 27. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee makes a beeline for the tropical milkweed,Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee nectaring on the tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Up, up and away toward the next tropical milkweed blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee takes flight, returning to her colony. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
