Monarch caterpillar is back!

Last year I didn't have any Monarch caterpillars come to my purposely-planted milkweed patch. T'was very disappointing. But tonight I went out to the milkweed to do the usual inspection of the undersides of the leaves, and what do I see?! A very juvenile caterpillar munching away! It seems pretty late in the summer, and if history runs true in the case o f past butterfly/caterpillar metamorphases(?) I've experienced and been fortunate enough to view here in my garden, this little creature will not make it to the chrysalis & then butterfly stage before cold temperatures set in. I'm going to try to faithfully track its progress & growth as August & September continue.
I wonder why the Monarch butterflies seem to wait until so late in the season to deposit their eggs. Actually, I haven't even seen any Monarch butterflies here in my yard anywhere this season, so I suppose I should be somewhat surprised to see the caterpillar. They are more than welcome, and I wish I could help them extend their seemingly-limited lifespan.
I feel like I offer an oasis in the pesticide-desert when I see these little critters here.

Pollinators are happy!

I spent a while out in the vegetable garden yesterday - watering, picking cabbage worms, watching all the little insects flitting around, and becoming enamored with the swallowtail butterfly that kept visiting my Mexican sunflower (torch tithonia). I was commenting to someone at work that I had seen so few butterflies this year, I was beginning to think something was wrong (I guess I meant something besides the copious quantities of pesticide that are used in this agricultural region).
But all it takes is some time out in the garden and a pair of open eyes. The pollinators LOVE my torch tithonia - this is an annual plant I grow from seed. Usually I have difficulty growing it from seed, at least here in Colorado. But this year I tried a different technique: I sowed many more seeds in indoors starter pots than I usually do, so had many more surviving seedlings. I even had enough plants to give away a couple. Along with being a great pollinator attractant, the seeds will also attract birds later. It's also a beautiful plant.

I harvested my first brusselsprouts yesterday, along with green beans, one red cabbage, and some cherry tomatoes. I also removed the last of the row covers from my cabbage-family plants; I figured any damage that occurs from cabbage worms I can mostly nip in the bud from there on out. Turns out the moths had gotten under the row covers, since I did have some damage already. Had to go on a killing spree in search of cabbage worms . . .

Monarch larva are back!

This is the time of summer when I start inspecting the milkweed--it's time to begin seeing monarch butterfly caterpillars (larva). My efforts were rewarded - yesterday I found my first larva on the underside of a milkweed leaf! This smallish one is only about 1.5" long, and isn't really chubby yet like it will be in a week or two.

Earlier in the season before the milkweed had even bloomed, I found the coolest insect perched on the unopened flowers. What amazes me about this creature is the exact match between its colors and the colors of the milkweed. What a great camouflage!

Vegetable harvest today: bunch of green & gold beans, cherry & Early Girl tomatoes

MORE rain

This weather is not too common in the San Luis Valley - three consecutive days that are mostly overcast and have measurable precipitation. Feels more like the Midwest.

The rufous hummingbirds are madly flitting all around the front and back yards keeping one another from the feeders and seemingly spending little time actually sipping nectar.

We've resumed supplying niger thistle to the birds and are attracting house finches, gold finches, and lesser gold finches.

Three springs ago I transplanted some milkweed (not sure which species) from a nearby local fishing hole to a vacant area near the firewood pile in our backyard. As I sort of guessed would happen, it has moved beyond its original area and has to be periodically reined in. I planted it to attract monarch butterflies, which actually happened!!! For two consecutive late summer periods, I found several monarch caterpillars on my milkweed. It was so COOL to track their metamorphasis from larva (or caterpillar, see photo) to pupa to newly-emerged butterfly, all within the confines of my little gardens! Unfortunately, the first time I was lucky enough to observe this process, the monarch emerged during a bad weather period of cold & rain, and shortly afterwards it died. I don't know what happened to the monarchs last year, but I always hope for the best.