Monarchs and Halloween

August 31, 2020

Volume 17 Issue 9, September 2020

What's New in September?

The tropics are heating up, and there are two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. We are thinking of our friends in Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. The month of September is usually our turn as the steering winds shift and start to guide storms along the Florida coastline and upwards to the Carolinas. As with every year, we start our vigilant watch over the waves coming off of Africa.

That doesn't mean that we stop creating here. Oh, no. We are just starting to see some of our prettiest flowers like the milkweed and orchids. I just brought home six more milkweed plants since there were two very hungry caterpillars decimating my single plant. I did plant two pods of seeds, and now there are a dozen or better new little milkweed plants flourishing in a flower box. Ready for next year’s plant hungry caterpillars.

While the heat has been high and the humidity has been waxing and waning, we have been blessed with a couple of moments where you could almost—I mean almost—imagine a cool spot in the yard.

I am already thinking of Halloween and doing some brand new designs for Halloween. I guess, I am trying to push fall along while I long for cooler temperatures. It hasn't worked in the past, and it probably won’t work now!

This little Monarch didn’t stay this size very long. He got fat fast!