Milkweed Season

Ball-shaped clusters of pink flowers of milkweed at Crow’s Nest Preserve

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

The perfection of the flower clusters of milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) belies its name that has the word “weed” in it. This beauty is found in many places at Crow’s Nest Preserve, but the easiest to find is in the meadow by the parking lot. The blooming of milkweed kicks off the second peak of wildflower bloom here; after the ephemeral spring wildflowers are finished, we have another wave of summer blooms in our meadows.

We also have a few populations of swamp rose, Rosa palustris. You can immediately tell from is behavior that it isn’t the invasive multiflora rose (which has smaller white flowers). I appreciate its beauty even more because it isn’t multiflora rose.

At the canopy level there is still more flowering: the northern catalpa tree (Catalpa species) is in peak bloom. I read online that this is not a terribly long-lived tree. Ours is gnarly, hollow, and ancient. This week the trash truck took off a major branch, and I counted the rings: the branch alone appears to be 70 years old!

Here’s a closeup of the gorgeous flowers:

It is also host for caterpillars including the catalpa sphinx moth (Cetatomia catalpae). As it happens, we’re raising some in a netting container on our kitchen table (we have ourselves raised an insect enthusiast, otherwise we wouldn’t be!). People use these as fishing bait, and of course birds rely on caterpillars to feed their rapidly growing young.