specialized feeders on the plant, eating nothing else. These specialists, like the monarch caterpillar, have evolved a means of coping with the plant’ s toxin. They don’ t deactivate it but incorporate it into their blood, permeating every portion of their body. This makes them distasteful to predators like blue jays, since the food they eat is poisonous.
Of the 15 or so species of milkweed native to Indiana, most are found in open areas. A few are found in forested communities not densely shaded. The common purple milkweed is found more in open woodlands. Poke, variegated, whorled, and thinleafed milkweeds are also found in Indiana forested environments. I’ m always on the lookout for these plants with a flower color unlike the solid dark red or purple color of the common. Another milkweed is the beautiful butterfly weed we see blooming along county roads. Its showy orange flowers are a standout, one of only a few to have this color, and the only milkweed with alternate leaves and colorless juice.
My milkweeds occupy several places in our recent hugel mounds created to improve soil. Their broad, usually paddle-shaped leaves make them easy to spot among other green plants struggling for sun and space. Now that cicada emergence is over, we’ ll watch for another natural drama, the arriving pollinators as milkweed comes into bloom. It’ s the monarch butterfly we know as chief pollinator but other insects will arrive, attracted to the fragrant scent, and rewarded with a meal of nectar. These include, but not limited to, bumble bees, yellowjackets, skippers, several species of moths, and the hummingbirds.
Later into fall, the feathery seeds of milkweed will take flight, a plume of fluff, lofting seeds like tiny parachutes. Tightly wrapped in a pointed husk about 3” in length, the spirally arranged seeds inside resemble a pine cone and gently fall out as the cone splits open and dries. The“ silk” can be found in a variety of bird nest construction, including goldfinch and buntings.
One natural event gives way to another. It’ s a schedule I track on the summer calendar as friends tell me what they see in their woods. It’ s all part of the natural sequence, predictable and anticipated. Undeterred by COVID, nature reassures. It wasn’ t interrupted and it certainly never disappoints. I am heartened and anxious as our lives slowly return to normal, and I’ ll look for the milkweeds to grace our fields and gardens for yet another year. •
20 STUDIOS � 27 ARTISANS
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