Letting milkweed grow

This monarch caterpillar was munching on common milkweed at my garden this weekend. As noted below, habitat destruction has reduced the amount of milkweed growing in the Midwest, which is the only food source for the graceful Monarch butterfly. That's one of the reasons I don't kill off all the milkweed in my gardens. Another reason: the scent of milkweed flowers, as another gardener once described it to me, is intoxicating. Unfortunately, my nemesis, the Japanese beetle, has managed to suck all the milkweed flowers to brown this year. More plants are springing up, and hopefully will bloom after the destructive beetle has gone underground. Though the caterpillars look a bit ominous, they won't bother your tomatoes or other plants, so don't poison or otherwise kill them off, as Monarchs already face a number of obstacles to survival.