Late summer is hanging around but some things remain constant and are looked forward to with great anticipation. Such are these days when the swallowtail butterflies have left behind their tiny eggs, almost overnight they hatch and the "munching begins".
I can hear it, if only in my imagination.
Let me do a turnabout in time with the dream of a new perennial garden late last summer, and thus a garden space was began in the back yard back in the fall. The few photos depict the different stages of growth in this garden. Like all evolving gardens, I have made decisions for next year's garden based on what to plant and where to plant. The swallowtail butterflies would arrive on hot, sultry afternoons fluttering from sweet flower to flower while I watched from the comfort of air-conditioned rooms.
Now back to the munching scenario which actually begins in the spring as I am walking through the nurseries gathering parsley plants. " One for me, five for them" is my chant, yet knowing full well that the swallowtails could choose all six of those lush parsley plants munching them to the stubs!
It makes me happy, knowing the swallowtails will return in numbers once again next year.
And it is as the parsley was only pruned!
And it is as the parsley was only pruned!
1 comment:
From this post and your photos I see what my swallowtail caterpillars might have looked like had I left them in the garden another week, or if I'd known how to keep them in the house. They were probably too crowded in the jar...
Your pictures are beautiful! I am waiting now for my Monarchs to emerge from their chrysalises, and getting a little worried, as they are certainly on the late side at this point.
I know I will always want parsley -- well, I always have had some, to cook with, but now I have another reason! I hope the swallowtail butterfly returns again next year...
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