First Baptist Church Hebron

06/15/2026

06/15/2026

MARVELOUS MONUMENTAL MEMES

06/15/2026

Most garden plants attract pollinators. These eight do something more specific — they're the only plants certain bees and butterflies can complete their life cycle on. 🌿

Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) — opens at dawn and closes by midday. Mining bees work the morning window, often before most gardeners are outside.

Wild bergamot / Monarda (Monarda fistulosa) — feeds bumblebees through June and July, plus the Monarda sweat bee, a specialist that collects pollen almost exclusively from this genus.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) — a consistent magnet for metallic green sweat bees through midsummer. One of the most reliably productive native bee plants available in the eastern and central US.

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) — research has documented over 17 native bee species visiting this plant. It's one of the highest-traffic natives you can grow.

Wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) — the sole larval host plant for the Karner blue butterfly, a federally endangered species. Karner blue caterpillars cannot develop on any other plant. No wild lupine, no Karner blue.

Penstemon (Penstemon spp.) — draws specialist mason bees and leafcutter bees. The tubular flowers are sized for these mid-sized native bees specifically.

Butterfly w**d (Asclepias tuberosa) — a milkw**d, which means monarch caterpillars depend on it. It also pulls in a wide range of native bees that work the flower clusters all summer.

Blue wild indigo / Baptisia (Baptisia australis) — the larval host for the wild indigo duskywing, a native skipper butterfly. It also hosts several other specialist Lepidoptera species.

Plant a generalist garden and the generalists show up. Plant these, and the specialists that have no substitute finally have somewhere to go. 🐝

06/12/2026

06/12/2026

Before you reach for anything, look at what you're actually looking at. Seven of the most common caterpillars in American gardens and yards — and the butterfly or moth each one becomes. 🌿

Seven transformations to recognize:

Black Swallowtail — the green caterpillar with bold black bands and yellow-orange spots on your dill, parsley, or fennel. Leave it. The adult is one of the most striking butterflies in the country.

Mourning Cloak — black with red spots and branched spines, often found on willow, elm, and cottonwood. One of the longest-lived butterflies in North America — adults overwinter and emerge in late winter.

Red Admiral — spiny dark caterpillar on stinging nettles or false nettle. The adult's orange-red wing bands are unmistakable.

American Lady — bristly dark caterpillar often found on pearly everlasting and pussytoes. The adult has distinctive eyespots on the hindwing underside.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell — black and spiny with yellow side spots, found on stinging nettles. Northern species, vivid orange and dark wings.

Cloudless Sulphur — smooth bright green, nearly invisible on its host. Becomes one of the most vivid large yellow butterflies in the US — common from the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast.

Tomato hornworm — the large green caterpillar with diagonal white stripes and a curved rear horn. It becomes the Five-spotted Hawkmoth — a substantial moth with pink and grey patterning and a wingspan approaching five inches. 🌱

Every caterpillar is a future pollinator. Observe before you react.

06/12/2026

MARVELOUS MONUMENTAL MEMES from The Federalist Papers Project

Thoughts?

06/12/2026

✨ Dreamy Backyard Oasis: Whimsical Urns and Baskets Spilling Colorful Blooms onto the Lawn 🌿