Black-eyed Susan Gardening

06/13/2026

05/29/2026

Bob Barker spent decades reminding millions of viewers to “help control the pet population” by spaying and neutering their pets, but for him it was never just a sign-off line at the end of a television show. It was a lifelong mission.

Over the years, Barker donated tens of millions of dollars to animal welfare organizations, rescue efforts, wildlife protection, and low-cost spay and neuter programs. He quietly funded work that continued helping animals long after the cameras stopped rolling.

In a world where wealth is often used to build bigger houses, bigger brands, or bigger egos, Bob Barker chose to leave behind something very different: fewer animals suffering, fewer shelters overflowing, and more lives given a second chance.

Whether people agreed with all of his views or not, it’s hard to deny the impact one person can have when compassion becomes a lifelong commitment.

Sometimes the greatest legacy isn’t what someone kept. It’s what they gave away to help those who could never repay them. 🐾

04/23/2026

04/23/2026

North Carolina pro tip: this is why you don’t kill black snakes or king snakes. King snakes are constrictors and are resistant to the venom of copperheads, rattlesnakes, and cottonmouths, which is exactly why venomous snakes are common prey for them. They can easily overpower North Carolina’s venomous snake species.
Your property is much safer when you let these snakes stick around and do their job.

01/29/2026

I need to do a little dilly dallying in the garden 🪴

01/29/2026

I recently planted this along with Little Bluestem, and Echinacea at a clients. Impatiently waiting for next spring.

01/29/2026

I’m counting down…

Not sure who needs to hear this right now, but...

01/29/2026

I once grabbed a clients hand as she went to flick a caterpillar off her parsley. Once I informed her that it was a Swallowtail Butterfly she was happy to let him munch on her i of parsley plant.

That “ugly worm” you’re about to crush?
It might be the most beautiful thing your garden will ever produce.

We’re so quick to protect perfection that we forget how beauty is actually made. A few chewed leaves show up on parsley or dill, panic sets in, and instinct takes over: kill it before it ruins everything. But here’s the hard truth most of us were never taught — gardens don’t create magic by staying neat. They create it by being alive.

That caterpillar isn’t a pest plotting against you. It’s a promise. A future butterfly in its most awkward, hungry, inconvenient form. And yes, it eats. Yes, it makes a mess. That’s the cost of transformation.

We love the fluttering wings.
We post photos of blooms covered in butterflies.
We say we care about pollinators, balance, and nature.

But the moment nature looks imperfect — chewed, messy, unfinished — we erase it.

You can’t demand beauty while refusing the process that creates it.
You can’t want butterflies without tolerating caterpillars.
And you can’t call yourself a wildlife-friendly gardener if everything living in your space has to earn its right to exist by staying pretty.

Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for your garden isn’t spraying, squashing, or fixing.
It’s stepping back.
Letting a leaf be eaten.
Letting life complete its cycle.

Because the magic was never the butterfly alone.
The magic was allowing the messy middle to exist long enough to become something extraordinary. 🦋

01/29/2026

I prefer the Asclepius tuberosa commonly called butterfly w**d since it is smaller and much more manageable in the garden.

Milkw**d's bad reputation comes from its name and its milky, bitter sap. While the sap does contain cardiac glycosides that taste unpleasant to most animals, this "danger" is exactly why monarchs need it.

Monarch butterflies can only lay their eggs on milkw**d. Their caterpillars eat nothing else. The toxins that deter other animals become the monarch's defense—stored in their bodies to make them unpalatable to predators.

Without milkw**d, monarchs cannot complete their life cycle. The plant isn't optional for them. It's the only reason the species exists at all.

One hundred species of milkw**d are native to North America, and none are classified as noxious w**ds. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service actively encourages planting it to help recover declining monarch populations.