The July native plant garden is pollinator heaven with the purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows of coneflowers, swamp milkweed, and butterfly milkweed. Plants are buzzing with many species of bees who sip nectar for energy and gather pollen for other essential nutrients. Their fuzzy bodies and hairy legs are perfectly designed for transporting sticky pollen back to their nests. Pollen is an essential food source for bees, containing proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. We have to go to the health food store for such a thing!

Butterflies use chemoreceptors in their tiny feet to “taste” the plants’ leaves and determine whether the plant will be a good food source for their caterpillars. They gather nectar from deep in the blossoms, curling and uncurling their long proboscises to sip the sweet liquid. Imagine if our feet could taste!

Monarch butterflies are specialists on milkweed and require leaves on which to lay eggs and feed their caterpillars. The above named species are home garden friendly, unlike common milkweed which sends shoots underground that turn up wherever they please - like the chipmunks in my garden!