I grew up in Illinois and like to think I know a little bit about insects. My best guess is that this is some sort of katydid which is in the Orthoptera family with crickets and grasshoppers. I checked all of the katydid shots online and didn't find an exact match, but there were a few that looked like this.

As for the flower, it seems pretty clear from the spines that this is a nasty weed. I downloaded your shot and zoomed in. The pink stuff looks like cotton candy. Did you taste it? No, I wouldn't have either, but the katydid looks delicious.

Thank you. I found out that it is a young katydid. I never would have thought of that.

That truly is a strange looking plant and that bug, my goodness