Milkweeds - More than for Monarchs

On my walk this morning I had one main thing in mind.  I was checking common milkweed plants for Monarch eggs or caterpillars.

The first thing I found were these two Red Milkweed Beetles.

They live on milkweed and are quite safe there although with their bright red and black coloring they really stand out on the green leaves.   That's because eating the milkweed makes them poisonous!

They weren't what I was looking for, but they were entertaining nevertheless!  Click here for an interesting article about them.

So also was the next insect I found, which shall remain nameless unless someone can identify it and leave a comment.  I found it fascinating that its antennae are 3 times as long as its body!  You can see them if you look carefully at the next photo.

The next critter didn't stand out - in fact, it looks a lot like a leaf with legs.  

If it was on a plant with smaller leaves than the common milkweed, it would blend in with its surroundings even better.  See if you can find it in the next photo.

Milkweed do seem to attract a wide variety of bugs... or maybe it's just that I was looking at them more carefully than other plants, trying to locate a Monarch caterpillar.  I'm hoping it's just too early this year but I have not seen a single Monarch butterfly here.  Have you?

When my girls were little, we would (usually easily) find a caterpillar or two and feed them milkweed leaves until they formed a chrysalis.   Then we would release them when they turned into butterflies.

We still have milkweed.  Even though the fields were mowed a few weeks ago, there is quite a bit left around the edges of the fields.

And where it was mowed off, it's already coming back up, with nice and tender shoots, for the caterpillars to eat if they just find it!

The ones that weren't cut down are forming their seed pods.

The fluffy stuff inside was collected during World War II for use in life jackets.  You can read an interesting article about 'the heroic milkweed' here.  I don't have a photo of the seed pods opening up, because they are still too green this year.  But several years ago I 'sketched' one in watercolor:

Milkweed actually has had a lot of uses over the years.  From food (young shoots that taste like asparagus when properly prepared and correctly identified - there is a similar-looking plant that is not edible!) and medicinal uses (the milky sap forms an instant bandage when it dries),  cordage made from its sturdy stems, to dyes which produce a variety of colors, and even Christmas tree ornaments!

My mom and I used to have a craft day each fall on the first day of deer season.  I had the day off from school and the men were all out hunting.  We often made things with natural materials like pine cones.  One year we made ornaments with dried milkweed pods.  We sprayed them with gold paint on the outside, lined the inside with glitter and added a small figurine.  These are 40+ years old and we still hang them on our tree each Christmas!

But I got a bit side-tracked there--  let's get back to today!  On around the path I went, checking milkweed plants.  

This one has a nice little bug swimming pool,  but no one is bathing right now:

Before I finished my walk, I found one more cute little insect.

Hopefully, one of these days soon, I'll spot a Monarch butterfly, eggs, or caterpillar.  I'll keep my eye out for them.  Let me know if you see any!