June 2025

June 1

About 250 pipevine caterpillars have eaten most of our pipevine plants and now they are going on what we call ‘walk about.’ We see them scurrying in and around black tubs, over mulched walkways, and up the sides of fences and buildings. They are looking for a place to construct a chrysalis and begin the process of metamorphosis. In the left photo, you can still see the caterpillar, but the transformation is beginning. The right photo shows a fully developed chrysalis, or protective hard case. Most varieties of swallowtail butterflies have chrysalises with a similar shape, and they are usually held in place with two filaments.

June 2

Lots of different lizards are attracted to our garden, and once or twice a year we see a snake. We haven’t seen a snake this year, but we found this snakeskin. It tells us that the snake was about four feet long with a small head and a long, tapering body. A snake can shed its skin every couple of months. This one probably rubbed its head against the rough pot to make a tear in the old skin allowing it to slither out. Notice the eye caps are still on the old skin. This was a very successful shed! A long, gradually tapering tail with a very sharp point usually indicates a nonpoisonous snake. NEVER pick up a snake.

June 3

When planting seeds, take note of how many of them germinate (a great way to teach percentages). This is a picture of antelope-horn milkweed seedlings from seeds that we purchased online. We planted 25 seeds and only eight germinated. We thought more might germinate over time, but they haven’t. Thirty-two percent, or 8/25ths, is NOT a good germination rate for newly purchased seeds that were planted at the right time under the right conditions. Note: The tiny seed leaves in the photo are not milkweed plants.

June 6

A bud of this balloon flower plant (Platycodon grandifloras) is covered in red aphids. We haven’t seen this aphid (Chaetosiphon fragaefolii) in our garden in several years. Notice that they are clustered on the new growth of the plant. This is what aphids love! I will cut off the tip and destroy it. I don’t see any other clusters of these aphids anywhere else in the garden, so we are not facing an infestation. We are fortunate that we have an abundance of natural predators, and our plants are healthy and strong. We must be cautious this time of year because plants can become stressed in times of excessive heat and drought, making them more susceptible to aphids.

June 8

This is one of our cherished garden reptiles. Not only are we trying to provide a good habitat for pollinators, but we hope our pollinator habitat will revive the population of our local reptiles. This anole is resting on one of our many Jewels of Opar (Talinum paniculatum) plants. This is a plant that easily self-pollinates because it has multiple flowers that are close to each other on the stems. However, bees love it and fertilization also occurs when they transfer pollen from one Jewels of Opar plant to another. This species reproduces by self-pollination and cross-pollination.

June 10

Reptiles need a place to hide, bask in sun, and find food. Because of this, we are adding rockeries of all sizes and shapes throughout our gardens. These are three of our many rock piles. Much of the stone we use has been salvaged from construction and demolition sites, or rock rubble can be purchased inexpensively at places that sell landscaping stone. When building, place the stones close but not wedged together tightly. Reptiles and insects (which the reptiles love to eat) need nooks and crannies for cover, nesting, hunting, and basking.

June 11

This is our garden Dinah-saur, a sculpture that is totally anatomically incorrect! It was probably sculpted in the 1930s when dinosaurs were compared to lizards and viewed as thick-bodied, lumbering behemoths. This was also the time when some of the petrified dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy riverbed near Glen Rose, Texas were removed by property owners and sold as garden birdbaths or steppingstones. (It was during the Great Depression and people needed money.) In the 1940s, two large slabs of trackways were sent to the American Museum of Natural History (NY) and the Texas Memorial Museum (Austin) for exhibits. Today, the trackways are protected in situ at Dinosaur Valley State Park.

June 12

Luis and my husband, Ignacio, helped us wrap one of the new rainwater-harvesting tanks with two 22'-sections of wire fencing. We can now grow pollinator-friendly vines up the sides of the tank. We are planting a mix of coral vines (Antigonon leptopus) and black-eyed Susan vines (Thunbergia alata) around the base. Part of this location gets dappled shade so the plants might not bloom as abundantly as they would in full sun, but they will provide some nectar and serve as host plants for several butterflies. Both species of plants will die back after the first frost and re-emerge in spring. I speculate that the water and the tank will help protect the roots in the winter. We love the look of the galvanized wire against the plastic tank. It holds 2,500 gallons of water, and it is currently full!

June 14

Flag Day is a celebration of the adoption of the flag of the United States in 1777. National Flag Day, June 14, was designated as an official day of commemoration in 1949, and our community proudly celebrates. The STEAM gardens are surrounded by flags, and we leave them up until after July 4!