A Mother's Journal » Butterflies

A Secret Garden

Lynn — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:19:34 +0000

On Sunday afternoon, I was at a pretty little park on the Eno River in Durham. Little River Regional Park. The first thing I noticed, of course, was a closed-in garden, with a latched gate on either side. There was a cute little sign asking the deer to keep out, but nothing indicating that I could not go in, so in I went.

You can see the little gate and the little sign on the front. The wooden fence by itself would not do much for coverage, but there was a wire mesh over that, and then the plantings along the fence were so dense you really could not see inside the garden.

Entering the garden, it’s like it just opened up and there was so much more room on the inside than I would have guessed!

This was truly a secret butterfly garden. There were signs to tell the visitor what kind of plants they were looking at and also signs telling about native butterflies.

For a little while, I was in garden heaven again. How I have missed my walks through the old garden in the early morning, throughout the day, and then in the evenings again, looking for creatures and touching leaves and getting lost in the scent of herbs and flowers. It’s been five months now. Nearly half a year. Does it seem so?

This garden, however, spoke to my heart in a new way. I could see myself creating a space like this. I can see myself creating a garden like this one.

I will be brutally honest. The once beautiful Little Wild Garden is so overgrown now, it’s really shameful. The paths are almost invisible with their new covering of weeds. The once loved and somewhat controlled native “weeds” are bounding. The once trimmed and nurtured ornamentals and herbs are leggy and out of control. Dying, even. The keeper of the garden is away. Probably forever.

A view from inside the garden, where there were individual beds and a place to sit under an arbor.

I really like the idea of a garden like this. I do. After maintaining a garden that spanned an entire front yard, I am wondering how it would feel to have a smaller, contained garden to truly hide in. A Little Secret Garden. I am liking this idea more and more, but one never knows. I have pictures of gardens in my mind. Lots of images. Lots of thoughts. I am hopeful that I will have a garden again some day. I believe.

That was my Sunday afternoon with Michaela. I was prepared for a picnic, but not for the privilege to sit in a little secret garden. It was a good surprise.

Enjoy this day.

It’s The Rain

Lynn — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:23:00 +0000

After weeks and weeks and weeks of hot, dry weather, we are finally getting a rainy week. We had rain on Monday, and then there was a lull. We had enough of a lull yesterday morning to get some sun, which made every raindrop glisten. And now we are getting rain again.

During the lull, I went out to visit the fish and look at the now-clear water.

Looks like a snake, I know, but you can see the tubing to the pond pump. The water is super clear now and we can see all the fish perfectly! They are hiding in this picture. They love to get under the bridge that the carpenter built. He said they would. He was right.

The white liner, though not my first choice if I could spend whatever I wanted on this pond, does show us what’s going on with the sediment (or the bottom of the pond) when the water is clear. I love that part.

We are still enjoying creatures around the pond.

Pardon me, please, while I dive down into this flower.

One of the arbors is covered in berries. Is it some type of fruit? Grapes, maybe?

Why, no! It’s poke berries! (Sorry, mom, to let them grow, but I had to.)

I love the poke berries, and this plant came up of its own accord, grew up and draped itself beautifully over an arbor. It is filled with mockingbirds most of the time. How can I cut it down?

Well, must run. I do have to work today.

Join Me For Planning

Lynn — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:36:13 +0000

Would you care to join me by my little frugally-built pond?

We’ll sit side by side on the little bench and look through my Beyond Five In A Row book of lessons. We can have coffee and watch the goldfish.

Every Tuesday morning marks the beginning of three days off work for me. I always think I’ll get so much done, but then the days become a flurry of appointments, a violin lesson, a co-op or a fieldtrip, cleaning and menu planning, and, well, here we are at Friday morning again.

This Friday morning, I found my spot by the little goldfish pond to be a haven — I got some thinking done and, if nothing else, was able to clear my mind and relax enough to ease into a couple of work days.

Let’s look around and see what we can find for nature study.

What a very large slug! I told the carpenter about it and he said I should kill it. Oh. I cannot. Not like this. It’s a creature. The carpenter said that’s the whole reason we cannot have a garden. I love creatures too much. We do have a garden, but I’d hate to see us try and feed six people from it.

Not the prettiest of creatures, but fascinating for sure! Reminds me of a leopard and an elephant all wrapped up in one tiny little specimen.

There were butterflies everywhere this morning! I counted about 20 on the front of the house! They were fluttering all around the garden. They were landing on my dress. I had four on the front of my dress at one time! My mother said it was supposed to be good luck to have a butterfly land on you, not that we are superstitious or anything, but when it comes to creatures…

It seems the perfect morning for nature study, and we have just enough time to get in a little lesson.

I believe the butterflies must think they’ve moved into a Shabby Chic economy apartment. You can see the old quilt through the plastic. I mean, who’s to say they don’t just dig their new home? They certainly are coming around. Anyhoo…

Butterflies love tiny bits of water. Where little drops splash out onto rocks, where little drops are hiding in leaves, where rocks in a potted water plant are moist from the pond water, that’s where the butterflies will be.

This sweet little buttefly looks like she’s looking right at me. I’m not sure if she’s upset or glad to see me. I think she’s glad because she sat very still for several photos.

Well, come to think of it, she looks a bit mad. Maybe she wants her shabby chic home all to herself.

Enjoy this day! More later on our nature studies, our math program, and our Five in a Row co-ops on Betsy Ross.

Hackberry Emperor

Lynn — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:27:26 +0000

Hackberry Emperor
Asterocampa celtis

Seen sitting on a tomato in the garden. Lovely.

Notice the eye spots on forewing and hindwing. I think the “real” eyes are cool.

A New Day

Lynn — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:29:32 +0000

Yesterday evening I walked outside and saw a beautiful cloud. The tip-top was full of the last bit of the day’s sun. It would soon be dark. So many thoughts went through my mind. How the light filled the cloud with a beauty that it wouldn’t otherwise have had (though clouds have their own beauty anyway). How there are some people I know who are in their last years of life and their beautiful spirits have come to the top and show that what they’ve lived for is truly worth it. How it would soon be dark and there was hope for a new day in just a few short hours.

Life really does pass quickly. The older I get, the faster it goes.

I have found myself more determined lately to have a joyful spirit. There are some very specific reasons why, which I can hopefully share later. For now, today is a work day and I’m just peeping in to wish everyone a good day!

Creatures. Sigh. On my little garden walk this morning I noticed this clear-winged sphinx moth sitting on the basil. They remind one of a hummingbird the way they move through the air.

This pearl crescent was visiting the butterfly bush.

I had nearly let the walkway disappear! The garden needs tons and tons of work. We won’t even think about it today. I’ll focus on how happy I was in the garden this morning to see my stepping stones again. Lots more weeding to do, but it’ll be there next week.

I hope you have a lovely day!

The Circle of Life

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:16:56 +0000

Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to make myself be really really positive on a Saturday morning. After a week of schooling and housekeeping, and a long Friday which includes 8 hours of work and then a 2-hour karate class, I’d much rather have Saturdays free to visit my mom, take the children on an outing, play in the garden, or clean, even! But Saturday is a work day for me.

I got up this morning especially tired, put water on for tea, grabbed my bible and went to the front porch. My bible opened to Ecclesiastes, which I ended up being really grateful for. It was encouraging and sobering all at the same time. I was reminded that the day wouldn’t last forever and not to take the “poor me” side of my personality too seriously.

I read a little bit and then strolled down into the garden with my camera. (I try to always keep my camera with me. I have learned the hard way that you’ll always see the BEST shots when you don’t have it with you!)

I was admiring these “sunpatiens,” looking really pretty next to the antique pedestal and homemade mosaic birdbath, especially after yesterday’s rain, when I turned and spied an early-morning miracle.

This black swallowtail had just emerged, still unable to fly, and was hanging onto the rue while its wings took their full form.

The colors were stunning and it was quite exciting to be able to take plenty of pictures without having to chase this butterfly around.

The butterfly hung upsidedown for a long time, pumping blood into its wings, while I wondered about how it would ever survive Oreo and Cookie, the two garden cats.

But survive somehow the butterflies do, because I see them frequently in the garden. As you can see there are two split chrysalises, indicating that another butterfly had been born into the garden not too long before this one.

It slowly flaps its wings from time to time. This butterfly, by the way, is NOT from the chrysalis (pupa) that Michaela and I have been watching. It is still intact and we are counting the days.

I am amazed and so thankful to start the work day in such a way! I mean, I’ll be typing all day about injury and illness and end-of-life issues for people, so to start the day with something so fresh and new and full of life lends some balance to the day.

I sip on green tea, looking over my cup at Oreo and Cookie, who have not yet spotted this very still butterfly.

What to do…

After about 45 minutes in the garden and the butterfly seeming more and more “alive,” I decide to let it crawl onto my hand, which they’ll readily do when they are new like this, and take it to the high branches of a butterfly bush in a far part of the garden.

Checking on it about 30 minutes later it’s still okay, then an hour later it has flown away.

You gotta love a flower garden.

Lynn

PS – if you want to see a really close-up picture (you can click on lower right corner if necessary) go here.

Update on the Pupa

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:32:16 +0000

I have updated the caterpillar to pupa post with a new picture today. Enjoy.

Lynn

Overnight: Caterpillar to Pupa

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:45:03 +0000

Yesterday on a break, I went into the garden and saw a parsleyworm, or the caterpillar stage of the Black Swallowtail’s life cycle. It was metamorphosing from caterpillar to pupa, right before my eyes. It had spun the silken pad that attaches its tail to the plant. It had also spun the girdle which passed around the middle of its body and would support it.

At some point it would begin the amazing task of wriggling off its old skin. If only I had longer to play in the garden yesterday, I might have witnessed that.

I went out this morning to check on it and it looked totally different.

It is now in the very early pupa stage, something that Miss Michaela and I will watch with interest. Every time I think my garden needs to be cleaned up to look more stately and neat and orderly, and without the wild ways I let it veer toward, we see something like this and I know my garden needs not much more order than it has right now.

I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE, 8/24/09:

I went out on my lunch break today and the pupa now looks like this:

It is becoming thinner and more papery. It has been 11 days since the caterpillar attached itself and dropped its skin. We are watching closely.

UPDATE, 08/29/09: This morning it was this after a heavy rain.

By the way, I just wanted to say today that I love to hear from my readers. Your comments make my day. I know I’m slow to respond sometimes, but I’m always reading your comments. Work just slows me down in doing the things I enjoy the most.

Happy Saturday. Working today…

Lynn

The Black Swallowtail and Me

Lynn — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:43:10 +0000

Yesterday I had an amazing experience with a butterfly in my garden. Princess of the Universe had a friend coming over to play, so I walked outside to greet the little girl’s mom when they pulled into the yard.

I looked down at my rue to see an awful sight. A very large wasp (a paper wasp maybe) had a beautiful, large black swallowtail by the tip of its wing, pulling and dragging it down the rue stem. Down they went, the butterfly struggling to get free. I was not sure what to do, as I try not to interfere with nature and all her life cycles. I have certainly seen hornworms with braconid wasp eggs on them before, but I’ve never seen a large brown wasp attacking a full-grown butterfly. Finally, I could take it no more.

I did not hurt the wasp, but simply put out my hand, touched the butterfly, and the butterfly jumped/half fell onto it as the wasp flew away.

The butterfly seemed partially paralyzed and it practically fell from my hand, twirling to the ground when I tried to place it safely into a nearby cover of flowers and foliage. Unable to do anything else, I left the butterfly in the deep foliage it was in and went inside to work.

Later I went back out to see if I could find the butterfly and to see how it was doing. In fact, the picture above is from my trip back out — maybe an hour after I had removed the butterfly from the wasp.

I put my hand out and the butterfly immediately crawled onto it.

It was like it knew me. It kept putting its front legs out like it was scratching and feeling my arm. It seemed okay, so I tried to put it gently onto a shrub nearby. It flew onto a branch! That made me so happy. I had been wondering if it could even fly at this point, especially since the wasp had a little piece of wing in its mouth when it flew away.

BUT the butterfly would not stay on the shrub. If flew back down to my arm and started scratching at my arm again.

It walked up, up my arm.

Up my shirt. So I gently lifted it onto my finger. It flew onto my skirt.

It began crawling up again – up my chest, towards my face, like it was saying goodbye.

I put my hand in its way once again and it crawled onto it. I stood up and the butterfly flew away! I watched it go across the yard and up into a butterfly bush.

Wasp, whatever you were doing, so sorry to interfere, but I was happy to see the butterfly get away.

Lynn

What Would You Do With Two Days?

Lynn — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:22:17 +0000

In the garden today…

as is the case nearly every day, I found evidence of life…

and death.

Did you know that the “expected” life span of a butterfly is about 2 to 14 days? Oh, there are some species that can live for months, but the expected life span is very, very short.

What would you do with two days?

Would you add beauty to the world?

Would you live bravely?

Would you leave behind a beautiful legacy?

The butterfly does.

Lynn