BUTTERFLY WEED BRINGS BENEFICIAL INSECTS TO YOUR GARDEN
This is butterfly weed.
It is a very desirable plant in a garden because it brings in beneficial insects to eat the undesirable insects.
See the little yellow aphids on the stems?
I would never, never, never spray a chemical on those aphids or in my garden.
Those aphids bring in lady bugs and the lady bugs lay their eggs on the plants with aphids. When their larvae hatch they eat the aphids.
A lady bug is so cute!
But, look at the picture below. That is it's larva. Scary looking, huh? This is the little bug who will gobble up those aphids. And then, it will turn into a cute little lady bug.
I got the pictures of the lady bug and her larva from the Savvy Housekeeping blog and her very interesting post on:
We are having hours of slow rain and I'm loving it!!
I can hear it dripping from the roof onto the leaves outside my window.
I will always appreciate the rain!!!
You are so lucky to have rain. How I wish we would have a nice slow rain to wash everything off. We are having such a drought.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of that milk weed and lots of butterflies. The milk weed sows so easily.
Have a great coming week.
Mary
I know!! I've been where you are, longing for rain. That's why I'm so appreciative of every bit that we get. I bet your garden and all of those butterflies are beautiful! I can just picture it in my mind.
DeleteI need one o these plants. I had very few butterflies this year. They like my lantena.
ReplyDeleteHi LV, If you get butterfly weed started, it should reseed and you'll have it forevermore. Not sure why you didn't have butterflies, but I know they love lantanas. I love lantanas, too. This might be wrong thinking, but I always keep my flowering plants watered because I think it makes them more "juicy" for the butterflies and insects.
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