Caterpillar in the Dill

Found this little creature on my dill...My niece has since adopted it (the caterpillar, not the dill) and it's seemingly living happily in a container with fresh mint and dill and lettuce to consume & create lots of caterpillar poop with! It is a black swallowtail (one of their favorite foods is dill!). Lots of informative info here on Illinois caterpillars! You can see a photo of what this caterpillar looks like after metomorphosis here

A tiny toad

I found this little gal/fellow in my marigolds today while I was weeding...The smallest one I have ever seen! We held him for a few minutes and then set him back where he'd been spotted...I hope the lack of good weeds to hide in didn't ruin the little critter's day!
I also found this site where you can learn how to build little toad homes in your garden! It says "if you build it, they will come..."
There is also this lesson plan for building a "toad abode"...
And then there is some helpful and fun information about toads!

Summer So Far...