A Second Look--June 13, 3012

This week during a Second Look, I investigated the milkweed plants in one of my beds. I have a love/hate relationship with milkweed. Some years I pull it out because it is growing in the middle of everything else and spreading. Other years, I leave it because I want to have more monarch butterflies around. This year I have left it alone. The main goal of my investigation was to find monarch eggs. I think I found them, but it's hard to tell since they are inconspicuous white dots under the leaves. However, I definitely found insect activity of various kinds.

I also discovered a sparrow's nest with eggs in the dogwood tree in front of our garage. I got a picture of it but I'm not sure that that was the smartest thing to do. I had to stand on the top of a ladder and lean to get it, but anything for a Second Look, right?

Here's what I saw this week.

Milkweed among the day lilies

Bumble bee on milkweed bloom

Spider among milkweed leaves

Milkweed bug eggs.

Balloon flower bud

Coreopsis-Moonbeam

Marigold

Begonia

House sparrow nest with eggs.