Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Swamp Milkweed

What? No animals this time? No, not this time. Today I'm bringing you one of my favorite flowers. Milkweed! This particular plant is Swamp Milkweed. Usually the pink color and the long, thin shape of the leaves gives it away this time of year. The look of the pods, yes pods, gives it away later.

It was the pods that first helped me discover milkweed plants. I've known of those since I was a kid. I had no idea that they had flowers back then, and I didn't really care. My love of flowers has come only recently, so I still know very little about them.

But the milkweed flowers are something even a boy who runs very far from flowers can like. They have a secret that can only be appreciated if you look very closely at them. My next picture will show you a little bit.

These milkweed flowers have fangs! They look like aliens from outer space with those monstrous looking fangs to protect them! When I saw those fangs for the first time, the first word out of my mouth was, "Cool!"

But are they really fangs? No, not really. I doubt that they're really even sharp. I haven't tried touching them, so I don't know. It's not that I'm afraid. The reason is that I make it a rule for myself to touch nothing. It's for the protection of nature, not for myself.

I'm not sure how clearly you can see the fangs in this picture. I forgot to get a closeup, so this one is not very clear. Search for milkweed in my archives and you'll find some better pictures of these fangs, and also some really fun and goofy stories.

Milkweed is the plant where you can find Monarch butterflies and their caterpillars. I have never found any, but I have found several other kinds of interesting bugs. Always get a long close look when you find milkweed.

And finally, I added something new to some of my posts. Blogger offers a location feature that I never thought about in the past. After my last post it suddenly dawned on me that I could use that location feature to show the locations of the parks I visit.

So now you'll find the Location link below most of my posts. Click on it to find my featured park on Google maps. Any of you who live in the area can now go to these parks yourself. Google maps will even give you driving directions. And if you see a guy there in a giant rat suit, run as fast as you can!


Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!

24 comments:

  1. Milkwed has a nice scent also. I was taking some shots of whorled yesterday.

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  2. @Out on the prairie
    I never noticed before. I'll have to make sure I get a good whiff next time I encounter some milkweed.

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  3. Never heard about location map before, shall try later.

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  4. @Rainfield
    The Location feature is good for those of us that visit nature parks. We can help others learn where to find them. You can find it near the post editor when you're writing a post.

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  5. @Sharkbytes
    It's certainly one of my favorites.

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  6. I had a couple of varieties of milkweed in my yard for the monarch butterflies. You have to look on the underside of the leaves to find the eggs--they are like the size of a pinhead and white. I typically bring in the leaf if I see an egg because once they hatch, those teeny tiny caterpillars are too quickly eaten by spiders and such.

    I've raised monarch caterpillars for years and tagged them for research. I know a lot about milkweed and monarchs!!

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  7. That's pretty stuff! Somewhat different from the milkweed we have out here. I like the location feature!

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  8. I love the smell of milkweed in the morning.

    I just took some monarch caterpillar (on milkweed) pics yesterday. Splendid coincidence!

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  9. First of all, that swamp milkweed flowers are spectacular, Ratty!

    Second, I saw that "location" thingy in blogger, but has no idea that it would show the place where we were at! Thanks for pointing it out..

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  10. Wow, I wonder if milkweed grows out here - I would love to have some monarch butterflies to chase!

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  11. I never noticed the fangs when looking at milkweeds, but never time I'll look closer and hope I won't get bitten.

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  12. @Lin
    Now that you remind me, I remember you telling me about those eggs before. I'll have to keep looking for them. Monarchs elude me whenever I try.
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    @Montucky
    I've seen several different types of milkweed now.
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    @Canadian Mark
    I'd love to see some Monarch caterpillars. They hide from me too good.
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    @Icy BC
    When I started this blog I intended to give everyone directions to these parks, but it became difficult. The location feature makes it easy again.
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    @Sparkle
    Good hunting. Chase, but don't catch. Monarchs and milkweed have a little bit of poison. I don't think either would be too good for cats.

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  13. @AVCr8teur
    The fangs make them fun. I'm going to try to touch them next time I get close.

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  14. I'm a huge fan of milkweed myself and who knew about the map feature. I blog everyday and I didn't know. lol

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  15. @Lauren Axelrod
    You're right, that map fear isn't well known. I'm a bit of a computer geek, so I knew about it all along. But I hadn't realized that it would be useful until now.

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  16. The pink of the Swamp Milkweed is beautiful Ratty. I haven't noticed any milkweed around here recently, I'll have to keep my eyes open.

    I love flowers but I like them as much for the insects that hang around them as for their beauty.

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  17. that is very pretty milkweed.

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  18. that is very pretty milkweed.

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  19. that is such a beautiful milkweed. i love the color especially, and beautiful shot.

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  20. Wonderful flower! Thanks! I have not seen it before!

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  21. Thank you all for your comments. They are very much appreciated.

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  22. I knew that milkwood was a favorite of Monarch butterflies and we have lots of these wonderful butterflies in California - but I haven't seen the milkweed plant...or maybe it's just that I wasn't familiar with it. The flowers are really quite beautiful.

    I'll bet it is really hot right now to be running around in your rat suit. Do you have one in summer fabric for these high temperature days?

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  23. @RNSANE
    Nope. I only have the one type of Rat suit, but I have 23 of them. My only choice is to either stay home or go out in the suit and swelter.

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