May 2026

May 2, 2026

Pepper loves to hang out in our catmint patch. Not all cats like catmint, but some are genetically predisposed to react to it as they would to natural pheromones. Catmint emits an aroma that contains a chemical called nepetalactone. When genetically programed cats smell catmint the chemical stimulates their brains resulting in exhilarated feelings and playful antics. Pepper responds by laying on the plant, rubbing her face against the leaves, and sometimes eating it. The attraction to nepetalactone in cats is an example of a dominant genetic trait.

May 6, 2026

Sara spotted our first monarch caterpillar today. It was on one of our new showy milkweed plants. Milkweed plant leaves come in many shapes and sizes, and monarchs are attracted to all of them, but they seem to prefer some species over others. Antelope Horn, Green Milkweed, and Texas Milkweed are very common in our area, and they are native to the region of the central flyway that crosses through Texas. This year we added the following to our milkweed inventory: Mexican whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), Horsetail milkweed (Asclepias subverticillata), Zizotes milkweed (Asclepias oenotheroides), and one Giant Blue milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) for observation.

NOTE: The Giant Blue milkweed is not a true milkweed, so it doesn’t present an OE threat. We will monitor it and document what pollinators are attracted to it and if any Monarch or Queen butterflies use it as a host plant.

May 8, 2026

Last year we purchased a flat of twenty rue seedlings, and added them to our herb garden. This year, they are hosting lots of black swallowtail caterpillars! The picture to the left shows what the caterpillar looks like in an early instar, possibly the second instar. The picture to the right shows a caterpillar in the third instar. Notice how they change from looking similar to dark bird poop to coloration that blends in with plant leaves.

May 9, 2026

People are probably tired of me singing the praises of four-nerve daisies, but I can’t help it. They are incredibly easy to propagate, they are evergreen, their bright yellow flowers appear on long stalks early in spring and they bloom from early spring to the first freeze. 

Like last year, we are raising several hundred plants, but we plan to distribute these throughout our new Restoration Garden. Once established, they will spread by seeds. Four-nerve daisies are frequently found growing along highways and in undisturbed meadows.

May 10, 2026

It is heartbreaking to find a dead animal in a garden water source. The purpose of providing water is to enhance the lives of our garden visitors not to entice them into a dangerous situation. Once, before adding a post to one of our cattle/deer troughs, a squirrel got trapped in it and died. Add posts, limbs, stacked rocks, or other features that would act as an island or a life raft for a stranded animal. I learned this from my mother, and I hope I never allow this to happen again.

May 11, 2026

If you have passion vine (Passiflora incarnata), you are nearly guaranteed to have Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanilla). No one in my family had these native perennial vines growing in their yards, so I wasn’t familiar with them. I had heard about the plant and I had seen pictures of the beautiful flowers, but I assumed (incorrectly) that it was hard to grow. To my surprise, it is common in the southeastern United States, and it is the host plant for the beautiful, orange Gulf Fritillary butterfly. Yes, caterpillars will devore it, but it grows back quickly and comes back every year! (It self-seeds and spreads by suckers or underground runners that can extend several feet from the parent plant. So, think about this before planting!)

May 12, 2026

The lightning bugs are appearing exactly on time this year. Where I live in Central Texas, they normally begin flickering in the night sky about the third week of May. Keep a yearly record of when you first see them in your garden and try to relate their appearances or lack of appearances to the weather conditions you have experienced over the previous months. Mild winter temps and wet, warm spring months can cause them to immerge early, while hot, dry conditions or late frosts can delay them. Firefly larvae are usually found in moist soil or decaying organic matter in areas near a water source such as a pond, creek, or wooded area.

May 13, 2026

Since pollinators and plants have co-evolved over millions of years, it is expected that pollinators have developed ways to access nectar and pollen and plants have developed ways to attract pollinators. New species of common plants might not be as good for pollinators as the original plant. Look at this beautiful Teddy Bear sunflower (left). Many of what would have been nectar-producing central disk florets are now petal-like structures giving the flower a dense fullness. Because of this less nectar and pollen are produced and it is more difficult for pollinators to reach the food that is produced. Grow a few fluffy flowered plants for fun, but for pollinators less fluffy is better.

May 14, 2026

Our new comfrey plants are becoming indispensable. Weekly, we shred leaves for the chickens, our earthworm bins, and for our new comfrey tea fertilizer pot. We are following the dry method of making comfrey tea because it produces less odor and it is easy to collect the rich liquid formed. We tightly pack chopped comfrey into a thin-walled, black pot with holes in the bottom. We select a pot that fits inside a five-gallon bucket with a lid. After compressing the chopped comfrey with a brick, we seal the tub. Currently, we are leaving it sealed for a week at a time, before adding more comfrey to fill the inner black pot again. See how the volume has shrunk in a week? This process is constantly making a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer. We dilute the solution one part (fertilizer) to ten parts (water) for mature plants. We will keep you posted.

May 15, 2026

For about 10 years I have been searching for swanflower pipevine plants in natural wild areas. I have looked along highways, in grasslands, and even in undisturbed land around schools, churches, and new developments. I have some swanflower plants that I bought from a specialty grower, but I never found this native pipevine (that looks a lot like grass) growing wild. Today, I saw a pipevine female flying close to the ground in my very weedy orchard plot. She hovered and then her ovipositor seemed to touch the plant. I immediately worked my way over to the spot and, you guessed it, there were swanflower pipevines growing. I think it is ironic that what I have been looking for years has been growing 50 yards from my front door all this time!

May 24, 2026

This zebrina mallow (Malva zebrina) is not native to the USA, but I have decided to grow it from seed because it has beautiful flowers that attract pollinators, and it is a host plant for Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui). We want to attract more Painted Lady butterflies to our garden, so we added this prolific food source for their caterpillars. I did not plant it for these caterpillars, but they are on my zebrina seedlings anyway. I think they are army worms, and I am not happy to see them! They are indiscriminate eaters consuming tender plants, and when there is environmental stress, like food scarcity or over population, they can resort to cannibalism.

May 25, 2026

We planted Wholly Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia tomentosa) in early spring and is growing and covering the cattle-panel arbor Luis built. We are excited about this fast-growing vine that will provide more food for our pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. It is native to southeastern and south-central USA which includes parts of Texas. We are removing newly hatched caterpillars and moving them to other well-established plants to give this plant a chance to grow and develop strong roots. Soon it will be strong enough to recover and regrow after hungry caterpillars strip it of leaves and seed pods.

May 28, 2026

A few nibbled plants and toppled bird feeders or baths prove that we do have deer in our gardens. Plus, the occasional piles of scat pellets that we find. Both white-tailed deer and Axis deer are found in our region, but fortunately only white-tailed deer roam in our gardens. White-tailed deer are native, while Axis are originally from India. It is said that one axis deer is equal to several white-tailed deer. In other words, they are much more destructive. Axis breed year-round instead of seasonally so there are greater numbers of them, and they are indiscriminate feeders focusing on a single area at a time instead of walking and browsing selectively like white-tailed deer.

May 29, 2026

These photos illustrate why we grow hundreds of pipevine plants each year. Maybe someday we will have enough food for all of the ravenous caterpillars emerging in our gardens. When we get this many hungry mouths to feed, we cover and protect denuded plants (to allow them to grow back), and we uncover tubs of plants that have lush leaves. We continue alternating this process of covering and uncovering to make sure we have enough food for the number of eggs laid. The caterpillars in the right photograph are being moved to tubs of lush leaves. Trying to keep enough food for the number of butterflies we attract and the caterpillars they produce seasonally is a constant worry, but well worth it when pipevine swallowtail butterflies emerge at the end of metamorphosis.