Entertaining Royalty in My Garden

No, not the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I wouldn't begin to know what to serve them. I do know what pleases this visitor, however:

Monarch butterfly caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) enjoying a milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca) in my front yard garden. (As always, click for a more detailed view.)

I've been allowing common milkweed volunteers to grow in my garden for eight years, hoping to encourage Monarchs to reproduce here. This is first year they've ever produced flowers, and the first year I've seen a caterpillar, even though we do get a fair number of Monarch butterflies.

Front Garden. The tall plants in the rear, just to the left of the hanging basket, are the Milkweeds. The orange flowers in front are Asclepias tuberosa, (butterfly weed) which also attracts Monarchs.

Closer view of Asclepias tuberosa, Gaillardia, and Rudbeckia hirta

Here are some other pictures from my front yard gardens this summer:

The two-year old bed at the foot of the right side of our driveway really came into its own this year. The gray plants are Artemesia stelleriana 'Silver Brocade,' the purple spikes are Salvia nemorosa 'East Friesland' and Salvia x sylvestris "May Night."

This is the more mature garden to the left of the driveway at the sidewalk, filled with Salvia, Sedum, Sempervivum, Gaillardia and Juniperus, not to mention the Clematis-covered trellises.

Hemerocallis NoId (I thought it might be 'Chicago Fire' or 'Chicago Apache', but it doesn't quite match the pictures of either of those that I can find online.)

Echinacea 'Sundown'

The new backyard garden I planted last year has really taken off, and I will be featuring it in an upcoming post.