No pic as I didn't have my phone with me, but I just spent a good 15 minutes trying to ease a skipper out of the garage. I had just hit the button to put the door down when I saw it. I opened the door, but it took a long time to get it headed in the right direction - I am pretty sure this group would understand, lol. ☺️

@: INGGirl, I once had a hummingbird get "trapped" in my garage, confused and bouncing off the ceiling even w/the garage-door up. I had to get a ladder and catch it to let it go. There was a red wheel-barrel in there and I guessed it had got attracted to that.

Bees enjoying Hosta, Astrantia & Gaillardia

Ground wasp on Eryngium

Satyr

ETS

Love all the photos! I am looking at the photo of the Ground Wasp in photo #6 from the top. Now see, I do not enjoy wasps. There are always a few, but there have been seasons, years ago when I grew different perennials and we had a lot more wasps. And even paper wasps trying to build a nest right near the front door. So...are wasps beneficial in some way? The only experience I've had in that regard, is when I was growing a bed of brassicas and there were caterpillars and yellow jackets would be patroling the beds and somehow taking care of that problem for me. Otherwise...when there are many wasps, it gets a little creepy for me. And I normally have no qualms with the normal amount and variety of insects.

I’m seeing good numbers of swallowtails, but I am not seeing cats. Last year the skeletonized my fennel by this time of year. This year they are nowhere to be found.

prairiemoon2 "I do not enjoy wasps" - IME, the wasps that I see visiting flowers are pretty focused on their nectar source and are generally non-aggressive toward me. Great Black Wasps have been plentiful lately on swamp milkweed:

Markay - seems like I've seen more black swallowtails this year than in previous years, including a few females laying eggs on wild carrot, but I rarely find their caterpillars. Tigers are definitely the most common ST here, this one was on a teasel yesterday (8/1/26):

One swallowtail that I'll probably never see in my corner of Michigan is the zebra. This one was in a butterfly house on the other side of Detroit:

arbordave, makes sense that the zebra was in a butterfly house as they are always moving at warp speed, and hard to catch a pic of.

Pics from this week, including a couple of "firsts" - my first sighting ever of a Variegated Fritillary, and the first Buckeye I've seen in the area since 2024:

Giant Swallowtail on bull thistle in the field across the road:

Viceroy on wild carrot in the field this am (8/7/26):

Spicebush Swallowtail on teasel, also in the field this am (8/7/26):

Same on both the Coreopsis & Echinacea and I don't know if I have ever seen them before.

Spangled Fritillary really go for

Echinacea

Have seen lots of Skippers but first pic of any

Monarch on Asclepias, Lilium l. & Joe Pye

Hummer on Crocosmia & Lobelia cardinalis. Not great pics but at least they are getting a bit less shy.

Au contraire ie very nice pics @peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada. I was visiting a public garden last week or so and again I blown away by the brilliant shade of red exhibited by several clumps of "Lobelia cardinalis".

Ive always wanted this plant but as I recall he needs very consistent moisture to thrive.

Pipevine? on a zinnia.

tj

peren.all - I believe that unusual fly on your Coreopsis & Echinacea is a "Tiger Bee Fly", a parasitoid of carpenter bees.

tj - That looks like the dark form female tiger swallowtail (a mimic of the Pipevine ST).

Lots of butterfly activity this week. The meadow blazing star that I planted earlier this year has been a hit with the monarchs:

Ringlets, Crescents, and Eastern Tailed Blues are out in good numbers right now:

An American Lady was visiting the tall verbena by my driveway today (8/12/26):

Thank you Dave!

Eastern black swallowtail on a zinnia.

tj

I know I sound like a broken record extolling the power of "Monarch Magic Ageratum" to attract...Monarchs but it is amazing. This summer, once these plants were in bloom, it seems there have been monarchs flitting about all the time. It is such fun to see them so often.

rouge it is wonderful to see the Monarchs enjoying your Ageratum.

This looks a great year for Monarch. Nice picture Rouge.

I have never seen so many in our garden

However the best catch this season is this hummingbird. I see them daily but never caught a good shot till today.

I was photoing the cosmos flower and it came into the frame

Happy gardening everyone

Hummers on Crocosmia

Bees on Allium Millenium

Monarch cat is the first I have seen but....

It took me a second to realize this Monarch looked different because it had emerged quite recently.

@peren.all, sometimes a butterfly/moth don't get things right when expanding/drying their wings, and end up w/ragged wings of various extent, tho the one you show can obviously fly. I've seen a couple before that had dried wings so ragged they couldn't fly.

@peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada, very good pictures! the cricosmia is a great hummingbird attractor

beng yes, thank goodness this one can fly very well ruffles and all!

Thank you forever_a_newbie_VA8 Crocosmia is their favorite here as well as Lobelia cardinalis.

rouge21 - I may try 'Monarch Magic' Ageratum in a container next year, and perhaps elevate it so it's not so low to the ground. Even though it's an annual, it does indeed appear to be a monarch magnet. Meadow Blazing Star is a winner too - since it started blooming I've seen monarchs on it literally every time I walk by (usually twice a day), including this pair today:

In my own yard, Little Joe is near peak bloom and is a favorite with monarchs, as well as tigers and giants (plus other butterflies & lots of bees):

A Painted Lady (not to be confused with the American Lady) has been hanging around the butterfly bush and verbena by the driveway:

A Peck's Skipper investigating a Physostegia flower:

Yeah I will try Ageratum next year too!

Salvia Rockin' Fuchsia' is truly a pollinator magnet.

Hummingbirds love them so much they totally ignore the feeder just near by

Lots of carpenter bees

Great hummingbird pics!

I am also going to be on yhe lookout for Ageratum Monarch Magic. I’m very find of Ageratum.

I am happy to finally be seeing Spicebush Swallowtails in the mix. They’ve been a bit scarce this summer. I’m still not finding cats on the fennel and asclepsia. May have to try Ridolfia from seed again if I can find it.

"If you plant it, they will come" has certainly been the case for the Meadow Blazing Star planted just this spring in the "field of dreams" across the road ...

Honeybees on the cosmos.

Bee Fly?

The salvia will be covered in bees from now til frost.

Soldier beetle on Hydrangea.

Echinacea party. I could not get all the wings open in the same shot, they just wouldn't synchronize for me ;)

More hummingbirds

Hummingbirds enjoying the Black&Blue salvia blooms

indianagardengirl - looks like you've got a trio of southern migrants there - Red Admiral? (lower left), Variegated Fritillary (top middle), and Common Buckeye (lower right) - none of these three survive our northern winters. In my area, Red Admiral and Common Buckeye numbers were down last year, but they seem to be rebounding this year. I didn't see any Buckeyes here last year, but so far this year I've seen at least 3, including this one just today (8/23/26) on Coreopsis Star Cluster:

There was also a female and male Peck's Skipper on the Coreopsis:

... and a Bee Fly:

A female Zabulon Skipper on tall verbena by the driveway:

There was a male leafcutter bee on Little Joe (joe pye weed) today:

Thanks for the IDs, arbordave. Meanwhile, although the monarda looks played out, the hummer still comes every day. Heptacodium will be blooming in another day or two, so we'll see what it brings.

I saw this one on the Cosmos this morning, thinking he was looking for a spot to make a chrysalis. But I had already watered the flowers before I saw him and later when I looked, he was gone.

Oh, I tracked him down.

81d and he's barely moving.

I'll see if I can find him tomorrow.

Goldenrod Soldier Beetle.

Thanks Markay for the ID.

The monarch cat went into his 'J' hook phase, sometime last night, not far from where we last seen him.

☺️ <continued>

Wow, that was fast.

I just looked a few hours ago and its antenna were deflated and hanging straight down.

Just to give you an idea, it was like finding a 'needle in a haystack'.

Don't ask me what those bright spots are on the Chrysalis, they look brighter in the picture.

Is it my eyes or is that Monarch wings showing through the sides?

:-)

I’ve read those dots serve as oxygen exchange ports.

tj

That Monarch is about ready to emerge. I think it will look darker today and you will be able to see the wings showing through a little better.

Where's Waldo? 😏

There wasn't a whole lot of change today. If anything, it appeared to get somewhat smaller?

I read it can take about a week before it exits.

I managed to get a sharp close up this morning. Maybe an inch long.

Later today: (my cameras true colors can't be depended upon).

Here's Waldo! Just think if this would be within a rounded leaf shrub.

It's a Jungle out there! 😉

<to be continued>

"Don't ask me what those bright spots are on the Chrysalis"; "I’ve read those dots serve as oxygen exchange ports"

I think the other leading theories are that the spots may aid in camouflaging the chrysalis in some way (possibly by mimicking water droplets to help the chrysalis blend in), or in other cases as a warning to potential predators that the chrysalis is unpalatable or toxic. It seems doubtful to me that the shiny spots are there simply for oxygen exchange since the spots wouldn't need to be shiny for that purpose.

There are other butterfly species that have similar spots on their chrysalis, such as the Variegated Fritillary (photo from Alabama Butterfly Atlas):

Some species have a chrysalis that is entirely shiny, like the "Common Crow", a relative of the Monarch (photo from Australian Museum webpage):

Thanks Dave!

To me, those features appear to make the chrysalis appear metallic, so inedible.

This is all I have for today. I've read they don't get smaller unless they're inviable.

This one looks about the same as earlier.

Trouble is, my siders are coming on Wednesday. I hope this one is hatched by then.

Can I move the branch with the Chrysalis to another location?

Bill, yeah, you could. Just put it somewhere where the emerging monarch has space underneath to hang from the empty chrysalis and enlarge and dry wings w/o any obstruction.

PS I have seen rarely where the chrysalis was attacked by a parasitic wasp and there was a hole on the side where the newborn wasp emerged instead of a monarch.

Bee in a ",Joe Pye Weed" flower

A Bald Faced Hornet on an Angelica...

Bumble bee on the Cosmos.

No change on the Chrysalis today.

Heptacodium in full flower, and the pollinators are happily coexisting. Honey bee, ailanthus webworm moth, sweat bee and carpenter bee in this shot.

tj

The Chrysalis is darkening near the top and getting very shiny. Probably nearing its exit.

The butterfly will need my permission to leave so hoping to get a peek, even if it exits at a time that I'm not around. ;-) (unless he can slip through one part that has 1" chicken wire on it).

indianagardengirl - nice photo! Heptacodium does indeed attract a multitude of visitors, including this Viceroy today (9/2/26):

BillMN - you really went above and beyond for that monarch! I'm seeing plenty of monarchs in the field across the road, visiting a variety of flowers, this one on rosinweed:

Probably one of the last (if not THE last) Giant Swallowtails I'll see this year:

A somewhat worn-looking Great Spangled Fritillary has been hanging around for a few days:

Spicebush ST caterpillar on a spicebush leaf, 3 days ago, and again today:

Dave, I can't be outside or look out the window this year, without seeing a Monarch flittering around.

Still no emergence from the Chrysalis.