Green Beans Or Monarch Butterflies

I have been feeling a bit under the weather!  When a beautiful sunny day came along a chance for little fresh air and sunshine was more than I could resist.  I thought I would see if there were any more green beans worth picking and clean up that garden bed.   I opened the cage and moved my little garden cart into position.  Sitting that close to the ground the first thing I noticed was not green beans.  Instead I saw two Monarch caterpillars on one milkweed plant.

"Fine!" I though," I'll look elsewhere."  I moved to another area of the green bean bed.  Once again I noticed two Monarch caterpillars on one milkweed plant.

One more time I moved.  This time a single, but large and healthy looking Monarch caterpillar caught my attention.  I still had not seen any green beans worth picking.  In the end I chose the Monarch butterflies.   As I closed up the fence I noticed a few more caterpillars in the green bean bed.   As I pulled my cart back toward the house, a bright orange and black, perhaps newly hatched, Monarch butterfly flew across  my path.  I definitely made the right choice.   Monarch butterflies it is!

Worth A Closer Look

After hard rain during the night, the garden remained wet today.  With the rain we are finally getting some green beans.  It's really not a great idea to pick green beans when the plants are wet, but if you take a closer look, there is another obstacle to moving the fence that surrounds the green beans.

Dripping wet but looking good, a monarch butterfly chrysalis hangs from the wire fence.

After the rain the Autumn Joy sedum has flattened out.  The weight of the water adds to the weight of all those flowers.  Their fragrance is heavy in the air.  It is not a scent that I find appealing.

A closer look at the sedum reveals a "Marge Simpson " spider and her web.  She has been there for several days and seems to find it a good hunting spot.

Fall is the time for lots of  purple and yellow composite flowers in the garden.  New England asters and Rudebeckia triloba add more than color to the garden.  They provide pollen and nectar for the bees that will be used to make food needed this winter.

A closer look reveals the tiny yellow flowers that open a few at a time, giving the flower the maximum amount of bloom time to produce seed and giving the bees the maximum amount of time to visit.
At first glance there is a lot to see in the garden, but if you just stop to take a closer look, you can see so much more!