Monday, November 17, 2014

I Love Milkweed

So I promised you a better look at some duck buildings and a lake last time. I'll get to that in a future post, but right now I want to give you something I've seen more recently. It's these milkweed plants! I really love milkweed, one of my favorite plants.

I usually care about watching animals more than plants, but there are a few plants I really like a lot, and this is one of them. I guess I never think about liking plants, but I guess I do in a few cases. I also like cattails, jewelweed, and snapdragons. There are others, but I'll get to them when I see them.

What you are seeing above are some open milkweed pods with their seeds spilling out. All of that white fluff is there to help the seeds fly around before finding a nice home for a new milkweed plant. That fluff can be used for all sorts of stuff that I won't mention today just because it's so easy to find out all over the internet.

Here's another view of a milkweed with more of the fluff exposed. Some of you may find this view a little boring, which is fine, but others understand that it's all fun to see. Did I already mention that I love milkweed? Any view is interesting to me.

What was really good for me was that the whole field I was walking through was full of milkweed plants. I didn't expect to see anything there but grass. I didn't really even expect to see the nature trail I was on. I was in a nature park that I only just now found out is on both sides of the highway.

The parking area for this place is on the other side of the highway. I saw the sign on this side on past trips here, but I never noticed the trails or a way to get here. I finally found the trail while I was out geocaching. I also found the geocache right on the side of the trail a little ways in. That was fun.

Above you can see the milkweed pods before they break open. I always think of them as pod people from outer space in strange movies like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. I swear I saw them carrying giant versions of these in that movie.

I have a few much older posts about these and the pod people. I did them several years ago. If you're interested in reading these idiotically fun writings just search the blog for milkweed or pod people. You'll be sure to find some strange stuff. They were fun to write.

I'll be back soon with the other pictures I said I'd share. They actually are kind of interesting. I guess it's not like being there though. I sometimes wish I could take you all along on one of my everyday adventures. There's nothing like being there. But these pictures are better than nothing at all. I'll talk to you later.

12 comments:

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    1. Thanks. They're not great, but I like them still.

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  2. These are cool! My human has never seen them before.

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  3. I love the way the seeds lie in the pod so ordered and sleek.

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    1. Those seeds like that were what made me notice this particular plant. I was glad there were so many plants to choose from.

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  4. I plant it all around the yard, a Monarch favorite. We made the pods into angel wings in grade school.

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    1. Angel wings is a great idea. I can see it right now. Pretty cool.

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  5. I like milkweed because it is the host plant for monarch caterpillars. I'm glad to see an entire field of milkweed. Let's hope that helps to bring their numbers back up again!

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    1. I'll have to visit this field next summer. I hope I can see some monarchs for once. They never seem to be around when I'm there.

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  6. Wonderful shots of the milkweed. I like it because it attracts Monarch butterflies around my home.

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    1. I like it because of the monarchs too, but I've never actually seen any near them yet. I'll have to keep looking. At least now I know where to start.

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