06/13/2026
🐛Monarch Watch!🐛
Has anyone spotted a monarch caterpillar on their milkweed patch yet?
If you’ve found one, share a photo in the comments! 📸 We’d love to see what’s happening in your pollinator garden, field edge, or native planting.
🌱 No caterpillars yet? Keep looking! Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, and those tiny eggs can be easy to miss.
Let’s see how many Pike County monarchs we can find this summer! 🧡🖤
Someone has been hitting the all-you-can-eat buffet this summer...
Just look at this chunky caterpillar! After spending its days munching on milkweed leaves, it's safe to say this little guy hasn't missed many meals. Growing from a tiny hatchling into a plump caterpillar takes a lot of food and a lot of native plants.
That's one reason invasive species can be such a problem. When invasive plants crowd out native species, they don't just replace plants they remove the food sources that many insects need to survive. And those insects are a critical part of the food web, supporting birds, pollinators, and countless other wildlife.
Every leaf this caterpillar nibbles is a reminder that healthy ecosystems start with native plants. The more space we make for native species and the less space we give invasive ones, the more we support the entire web of life that depends on them.
For more information about native plants visit indiananativeplants.org
