Q: My milkweed has orange bugs on its seed pods. Are they harmful? No, they’re not going to damage the plant enough to warrant intervention. These are native insects, and they are part of the ...

All of us were taught in our elementary school science class about monarch butterflies and their caterpillar stage that only eats milkweed leaves. Other insects also eat milkweeds, but they are hardly ...

Picture this: You’ve planted some milkweed, bee balm or California lilac, and you’re delighted to see bees and butterflies fluttering about your garden. You feel good about nourishing pollinators and ...

Q: My milkweed seed pods have clusters of bugs on them that are orange and black. What are they, and what should I do about them? Write to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Home Gardening at ...

Growing milkweed from seed is one of the easiest ways to help declining monarch butterflies. In December 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed monarch butterflies, whose numbers in the ...

Using pesticides to get rid of the annoying bugs will kill insects that benefit your garden and the ecosystem, experts say. DebraLee Wiseberg/Getty Images As we head into the fall, pollinators might ...