Favoritos de greenscenery

I knew we had predatory stink bugs in the pollinator garden, but I hadn't ever seen one in the middle of predation before! It was sucking the life out of a Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle grub. (This scene took place on potted milkweed.) A separate observation for the grub can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178872340

Not sure which one. Maybe M. bisaccata or M. stowei?
So incredibly excited when I found this on the underside of an Eastern Redbud (136983754) leaf. I immediately thought it might be a bolas spider. Kept trying not to get my hopes up.
Just had to get this one in & find out for sure.

in 3 different unopened Asclepias syriaca flowers (the rest of the umbels that these flowers were on opened normally). These are the same larvae that @kemper found on Asclepias here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122508469

I've observed these larvae in the past, but not directly inside of unopened milkweed flowers. For my research I place satin bags over milkweed umbels to ensure I can collect the next day, and these larvae often show up in the bags the next morning, sometimes in large numbers (up to ~50). They also jump. Because of this, I'm doubtful that the unopened flowers they are in are actually galls, especially since the larvae seem to move quite freely in and out of them. See here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/84974673

Had trouble getting a good view of this, but I'm glad that I persevered. When I finally did get a good look, I knew at once what it was and what she was up to. That flower head is now loaded with little hitchhikers.

Fungus gnat being subdued?

Mostly looking for insects. Observations from this area: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=25.781655655652138&nelng=-80.31088901752234&on=2022-04-03&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&swlat=25.776342059777495&swlng=-80.33357454677905&user_id=joemdo