You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
A lot of people on Dave's Garden have butterfly gardens - there's even a forum specifically for people to discuss their love of butterflies. But, well, we live within earshot of one of the big old cities in the North East. I never thought we would see a butterfly in OUR garden! Today, Earth Day 2008, seemed like the right day to tell you about it...
Butterflies?
Sure, I like butterflies, who doesn't like butterflies? I had just never expected to see one in our garden. They just flutter on by, right?
You see, I live on the edge of a big city. In my town, we cope with yellow-jackets, raccoons, ants, mosquitoes and mice, and with Town By-Laws, not with butterflies.
Still, one day, one ordinary August day, an American Painted Lady came to call on us.
We almost didn't notice our esteemed guest, but my husband was practicing with my new macro lens, and he spotted it. (Or should I say "he spotted her?" How do you tell with a butterfly, anyway?)
Of course, I only know about the American Painted Lady detail because I came in afterwards and asked on Dave's Garden, and somebody pointed me in the right direction. Today, you could simply go to BugFiles.
I know many of you plant gardens that are designed specifically to attract butterflies. Ours isn't that kind of garden. A butterfly visiting our garden is likely to get run over by a tractor-trailer truck on the way. There is a Butterfly House at the zoo, in the city, but the butterflies there all live in a huge cage, not in gardens.
So we were surprised, no, awe-struck, at the arrival of this afternoon caller. She did not seem surprised to see us. She nearly ignored us altogether, in fact. (Can butterflies act blasé?)
We were shy and awkward with our new guest. Are there Rules of Butterfly Etiquette that cover this situation? We didn't know how to act or what to say. We decided not to say anything, and communicated through whispers and gestures. (Can butterflies hear?)
And she didn't just flutter by; she lingered, she preened and posed while we made clumsy attempts to photograph her. She seemed particularly fond of a tall pink coneflower I had been planning to dig up.
I know that lots of you recognize her on sight, are on a first name basis with her and her entire extended family, and are probably laughing at our amateurish attempts to photograph her.
While my husband and I were just staring with dropped jaws, my daughter came out of the house and quickly sized up the situation. Being young and nimble, she picked up the point-and-shoot camera, and stealthily waded through the flowers to get a better shot.
Then she went back in with the new macro lens while I took a few of her. None of the film pictures with the macro lens came out. These, that you see here, are pretty miserable from the standards of BugFiles or the Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening Forum. I humbly ask you, please judge them from the city mouse's perspective.
We will never forget the remarkable, ordinary summer day that the butterfly graced our little garden with a visit, and we will be planting flowers with her in mind from now on. It's Earth Day - even your changes will make a difference and make the earth a more welcoming place for Holy Life.
About Carrie Lamont
Carrie has two teenage daughters, which is exhausting all by itself. She has been married for seven delightful years to her husband, who works for an airline, facilitating Carrie's frequent need to travel. She is forever coming up with crazy and irreverent schemes and trying to get others to do it her way, but is learning to be humble as she ages. Carrie has a masters degree in Music, and sings as she gardens a small urban plot from her wheelchair.
Posted by PaulFromAL (from Piedmont, AL) on May 11, 2008 at 4:41 PM:
carrie, I can only add the obivious, you show me a coneflower, any coneflower anywhere.....and I'll show you a butterfly.......nuff said.....:)
I'm sorry what did you say?....The picture I posted is of a butterfly but the flowers are NOT coneflowers, hey what do you want from me? You think I got pictures of everything you people talk about?......:)
Paul from Alabama
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on May 11, 2008 at 10:25 PM:
And I love your picture! Any coneflower, anywhere, except not so often in the city. Sir, it is true.
...
Subject: Too funny!
Posted by Zanymuse (from Scotia, CA) on April 22, 2008 at 7:10 PM:
Like a field of dreams... if you plant it they will come...
If you provide food they will seemingly appear from nowhere. Even when I was living in the heart of the concrete jungle in Los Angeles, surrounded by street after street of apartment buildings with no yards. I would put out container plantings in my little concrete patio and every year I could enjoy the butterflies and humming birds as they came to feast. Back yard sanctuaries for these beautiful creatures can and do make a difference. Congratulations on enjoying your first of what I hope will be many visitors. Keep that camera handy!
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 7:14 PM:
Apparently so - even uninvited, unexpected, they will come. The strangest part is, I had been planning all summer to rip out that coneflower..... Yes, I hope, now that she or he tells the family, they'll ALL come!!! x, Carrie
...
Subject: Loved the article!
Posted by CapeCodGardener (from Mid-Cape, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 8:37 AM:
Carrie, you've inspired me to plant some coneflowers out where I can see them from the kitchen window! Loved the article and the delicate Painted Lady photos.
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 9:47 AM:
Thanks, gardener. I took none of the pictures myself, you understand - they were all my daughter's doing. Can I bring some extra coneflowers for you to the Round Up in June?
xx, Carrie
...
Posted by Dutchlady1 (from Naples, FL) on April 22, 2008 at 11:54 AM:
Very sweet!
...
Posted by Seandor (from Springfield, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 12:24 PM:
You should make this into a children's book
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 12:26 PM:
Thank you, Seandor, you are actually NOT the first person to suggest that. Coming from you, though, I give it a little more weight!!!! xx, Carrie
...
Posted by Seedtosser1 (from Glenview, IL) on April 22, 2008 at 7:21 PM:
Such a sweet story! Great picures too,
Thanks for Sharing.
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 7:45 PM:
I will tell my daughter you liked her pictures! Thank you. xx, Carrie
...
Posted by leonortorres (from Miami, FL) on April 22, 2008 at 10:46 PM:
I loved your story, and congratulations to your daughter on the butterfly photos.
My small Miami garden attracts many "mariposas" since I planted blue porterweed, golden dewdrop, jatropha, firebush and milkweed. And I never never pull out spanish needles (bidens alba, a weed).
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 23, 2008 at 8:34 AM:
Hmm, never noticed any butterflies on the dandelions, definitely a weed! But in almost every other case, one person's weed is another's pretty flower. And the butterflies don't seem to care whether there are color echoes, either. I will pass your greetings on to my daughter! xx, Carrie
...
Posted by CapeCodGardener (from Mid-Cape, MA) on April 23, 2008 at 7:25 PM:
Quoted:
Can I bring some extra coneflowers for you to the Round Up in June?
Carrie, that is a lovely offer--I hope you haven't dug up ALL the coneflower/butterfly-landing-spots!! LOL
I've got some jugs of WS coneflower seeds set out. . . if they don't sprout, I will take you up on this kind offer!
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 23, 2008 at 7:28 PM:
I'm just not sure how hard it is to dig out... but I'll have found out by then! xx, Carrie
I love butterflies too. If you ask me they are the most casually calculating bug around. Fluttering here, fluttering there as if they are being blown in whatever direction they take. Yet, try to catch one of these elusive things. They are like magic in the way they avoid you & just keep fluttering on in their care free way.
...
Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on April 22, 2008 at 7:50 AM:
And good morning to you too! We didn't know enough or even want to try to catch her (or him), so there was no need for escape tactics. She just looked right through us (they do have eyes, right?). Thanks for reading. xx, Carrie
