Carpenter Bee and Swamp Milkweed

swamp milkweed, asclepias incarnata, is one of the best attractors of the monarch butterfly who sips its nectar and lays its eggs on the plant for the larva to feed and grow. Its seeds develop in pods with silky attactments that are scattered about by the wind. the carpenter bee, xylocopa virginicia, is a large hairy bee that builds its nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, and sometimes structual timbers (ouch).