End of season, dried out from lack of rain swamp milkweed, loaded with aphids and yellow leaves….and it's gonna be ok! The plant is booming with baby ladybugs and lacewing eggs and parasitic wasps all feasting on the aphids that are leaving my vegetable garden alone because they're attracted to this plant instead. There's milkweed bugs having sexy time and fluffy little milkweed tussock moth caterpillars chowing away on the leaves. There's a bunch of little bugs that I don't even know what they are, but apparently this plant is important to them. It's producing tons of seed pods to continue spreading it's lifeforce. It's all working as it's meant to, part of the system. Milkweed evolved to literally be destroyed and rise again. Your garden doesn't have to be perfect all the time, it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong or that it needs "fixing". Part of the beauty in native gardening is to learn to just let things go.
by whatwedointheupdog