Bumblebees and other insects busy on Asclepias viridis, a common, early blooming milkweed on World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of milkweed on World Peace Wetland Prairie and some of the insects visiting them on May 30, 2010.

Earth Day 2010 video from World Peace Wetland Prairie to show on CAT 18 at noon today: Use Cox Cable 18 or use the link below and click on 'watch live' for simulcast on the Internet

Video of Earth Day at World Peace Wetland Prairie runs from noon to 12:37 p.m. Monday, May 31, 2009, on CAT 18 on Cox Cable and simulcast from the NEW CAT WEB site. If you missed the event, you will enjoy it. If you attended, you'll probably see yourself there.
In addition to the video online and on CAT 18, you can view 148 photos from the event on Flickr.

Tiny insects use tiny flowers on May 30, 2010: Erigeron annuus

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Daisy fleabane on World Peace Wetland Prairie on May 30, 2010, with tiny wasp.

Tiny grasshopper finds sustenance on flower of Asclepias amplexicaulis on May 29, 2010

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of clasping-leaf, blunt leaf milkweed on May 29,2009, with tiny grasshopper feeding on its bloom.

Slide show of photos of elderberry flowers on May 27, 2010

Find more photos like this on elderberries.com

Earth Day 2010 video to show for first time on CAT 18 at noon today

Earth Day at World Peace Wetland Prairie video on CAT channel 18 on Cox Cable and simulcast online from Cable-access television's Web site at NOON today! First public showing of the 37-minute video recorded and edited by Frou Gallagher.

A few flowers photographed Sunday afternoon May 23, 2010, at World Peace Wetland Prairie and Pinnacle Foods wet prairie

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE view of wildflowers.
Top three photos are clasping milkweed or blunt milkweed in bloom.

Tree frog calling her mates from a cherry tree while tadpoles happily feeding in big blue tub a few feet away

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of tree frog and tree-frog tadpoles on May 23, 2010, 50 feet from World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Milkweed bugs will eat into the seed pods of milkweed and should be removed NOW if you want to save seed to plant more milkweed to support the population of monarch butterflies; milkweed you find growing along roadways and in ditches are hardy native varieties that will grow and bloom from roots once established and protected

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of milkweed bug on spider milkweed plant on May 19, 2010.
Please do not spray anything on or near your milkweed. Simply pluck the bugs off by hand. OK, if you are squeamish, wear gloves. Any spray used would also kill the eggs, larva or caterpillers of monarchs that already have visited the plant, totally defeating the purpose of protecting the milkweed. Another important thing to remember: Do not remove the milkweed stem if the caterpillars eat all the leaves! The plant will grow from the roots next year and pulling the stem may disrupt the root. The old stem is the easiest marker of where to expect next year's stems to appear and to remind you NOT to dig there! Sometimes, depending on rain and sun and factors I can't guess, milkweed roots will put up new shoots later in the growing season and benefit a later monarch generation the same year.

Insects, wildflowers go together like love and marriage: Alscepias viridis, also known as spider milkweed or antelope horns in some areas, is the earliest milkweed to bloom and provides foliage for the season's first migrating monarchs each year

Please click on images to ENLARGE view of wildflowers in late spring 2010.

Insects and wildflowers have rlationships unimaginable to human beings:

On May 15, 2003, Town Branch neighbors spoke up in Fayetteville Planning Commission subdivision committee seeking to modify or stop apartment project planned for land that is now World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on image to go to Flickr site and view photo in various sizes or navigate to see more native iris photos.

Native Louisiana iris information Iris brevicaulis

www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/iris/dwarfwoodland/iris_cristata.shtmlIris cristata

www.flickr.com/photos/7295307@N02/2379586481/

Wild iris on May 24, 2007

Fayetteville High School students show off a box turtle one of them found while they were broadcasting native wildflower seeds along Pinnacle Foods Inc. wet prairie trail on April 4, 2010

Ryan Boswell, Stephen Ironside and Stephen Coger tour WPWP on May 2, 2010,

Please click on image to ENLARGE view.