Last week I mowed the no mow. The June seed head stalks were up, and it was looking a little messy for suburbia. As the weather gets warmer it will stop growing but remain green. I shouldn't need to mow again until the end of June or mid-August. Yippee!

This mini bee hotel was made by Peter earlier this month. When this picture was taken 3 out 4 "rooms" were taken. Its full now, and Rich has made an even larger one that's currently got two rooms occupied. These hotels house mason bees; solitary bees that don't make honey. When your yard is nothing but mowed grass - there is no habitat for these necessary pollinators.

My pearly everlasting and pussy toe plants out front are looking a little sick. But what appears to be a nasty infestation or disease is actually the American lady caterpillars building their feeding nests on the plants from which their eggs hatched. Earlier this season I saw an American lady butterfly flitting about these plants. She was laying her eggs on them after a long trip to MN from down south.

The caterpillar is the black spiky thing in the silky nest of curled up leaves.