Milkweed: My former elsewhere garden had a pre-existing stand of six milkweed plants (eradicated by someone careless). There were so many varieties of wild things growing that I studied them to look for edibles and medicinals. I learned milkweed was a World War II substitute for kapok (a fluffy insulation that I found inside my father’s overseas sleeping bag) and also a necessary part of the life chain for monarch butterflies (the orange and black ones).
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Milkweed is awesome! I have two types growing here now - common milkweed and tropical milkweed. There are other varieties, too, with different leaf shapes and flower colors. When it’s blooming, it’s a magnet for all sorts of bees, butterflies, moths, and other pollinators. It’s also home to pretty black-and-red Milkweed Beetles and Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars.
When Monarchs lay eggs on my milkweed, I collect the wee caterpillars and raise them indoors, then release the butterflies. Their survival rate in the wild is extremely low (only about 10% make it to the butterfly stage). So far this year, I’ve only had one Monarch female lay eggs, but for some reason only a few of the eggs hatched, and none of the caterpillars survived longer than a few days. Hoping another Monarch butterfly finds my little patch this season! 
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Thursday May 28th, 2026 [these seedlings were not there yesterday] – ice plant and cilantro (a different cilantro)
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Lotsa weeds and grass and wild onions 
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Generally, “forcing” is literally forcing a plant to emerge before it normally would given the ambient seasonal conditions. Many bulbs are forced so they’ll be ready for early spring holidays.
Unanswered prayers. Abandonware.
AUDREY 2
Planted three seeds 2 days ago. Picture taken at 1:15 p.m. Second picture taken 3 hours later. 
[And I don’t even live near Three Mile Island.]
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I wonder if anyone can help identify the most lovely weed growing way taller than the grass in one of my yards:
I am no plant expert and can grow pretty much nothing. The leaves look kind of like spiky thistle leaves but soft. The blooms are about 9 or 10 inches above the ground, and the roots probably start under some adjacent concrete. I like them and plan to go around when I mow the lawn lol.
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Musk Mallow! It’s very pretty & drought tolerant.
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Wow, yeah the blooms look pretty much like pictures of that on the google. But the leaves not so much.
The leaves look more like a dandelion-type structure, or one of those huge pricker things with thrns and no flowers (but these have nothing like thorns).
I will try to get a better picture of the structure holding it up.
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Well my description of the leaves sucked, here is a single piece broken off from the main stem:
And here is one farther up towards the top, which also shows the fuzzy main stem:
Now that I have these closeups, I found some other photos of the Musk Mallow, and I think you are right @pepper114!! Thank you 
I wonder if it will multiply next year; the google says it is not a weed, but rather a non-native wildflower. I am pleased it chose my yard to grow in, all by itself 
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My old neighbors had a whole row of it in their flower bed. It was the striped kind but it would reseed itself every year. I think you could save the seeds and sprinkle them around in the spring if you wanted.
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