Terrene - There is a milkweed bug (do an internet image search) that will literally shave the blooms. Aphids can be an issue. I've not had Goldfinch take those seeds, but they always break stems and blooms to eat seeds from verbena bonariensis and susans. My milkweed is right beside the where the deer sleep every night and they've never touched any milkweed. Sometimes a fawn will taste something and spit it out! Rouge - asclepias tuberosa is difficult to move unless it's very young. Long taproot on older plants! You might consider collecting seeds (when you see silky threads in the burst pods with dried seeds). The seeds need cold stratification, so I sow them when the seeds would naturally drop from the plant. Mark the spot where you sow the seeds. Cameron

There are a lot of organic insect repellents/killers to chose from. A good full service garden center will have a larger selection of organic insecticides than the box stores and good garden centers have competitive prices. One natural product that comes to mind is diatomaceous earth; made of ground seashells, I believe. It's a white powder, a little messy to apply, but it works especially well for earwigs. It kills the little evil things as they crawl over it on the ground around your plant! I had lots of trouble with earwigs destroying my clematis. I hate those ugly things! Diatomaceous earth is the main ingredient found under many names, so ask at your store. It also works for slugs and snails as well. Buy a larger quantity and and you'll have it a long time. A good organic concentrate will kill the little buggers also, but ask; not all insecticides will kill every bug. Good luck.

Yes, That is the plant. The cats on the dill are not Monarch's. Monarchs have black yellow and green stripes, but no dots. They will only eat Milk Weed. Each summer in Michigan,our grand daughters and I raise a couple of monarchs in a screened covered jar. BUT we also have gobs of wild milkweed. Seems as if I am the only one in our park that has this plant, but we noticed tonight that three of the cats have started their next phase, so the new plant should be food enough for the other three.I have hopes that my plants will grow new leaves, and maybe a new family of monarchs..

In our community gardens, a wide variety of milkweeds are offered to the Monarchs. Every year they are covered with cats during different times of the year. It's very common to find a chrysalis hanging from a garden border 2x6 or from horizontal vine supports or any number of different plant stems. It is extremely rare to find any of them on the host plants though, as the little cats seem to want to wander off to do their magic. I'm sure there are predations, but I've photographed any of the beautiful little encasinga and even had the privilege of watching the last instar unzip into the bright green chrysalis. Up until that point I wasn't sure exactly how it happened and it was amazing and surprisingly quick! It takes me a bit of searching to find them at this point because they are so well camouflaged.