in the garden...

(in this case, the flower garden)

It was four or five summers ago that the first milkweed plant showed up in our flower garden. We were very excited about it...after all, milkweed and monarchs go together, right? Each year, the number of milkweed plants has grown and grown. (In fact, this year I've pulled some out because they're crowding out some of our other flowers.) Anyway, I think they're very pretty plants all on their own (at least for most of the summer...though towards the end, they seem to ooze out some ugly sticky stuff from their leaves and they don't look so pretty then). But I do have to admit part of our attraction is their ability to attract the monarchs. Each year, we've seen monarchs lay eggs, and and a couple times seen teeny tiny caterpillars. But apparently we've got plenty of predators in the garden, too...because we've never had a caterpillar grow to any size before. Until now, that is.

Isn't it beautiful?!! We keep watching it grow and grow and grow...and I think I'm finally hopeful that maybe this one will actually make it...