7-18-2024 My curly parsley and marigold pot was visited by a female black swallowtail butterfly.
She laid over a half dozen eggs over the plant. I took a few photos of some of the eggs. So, pretty soon, there might be some baby caterpillars feeding and growing in the curly leaves.
If the eggs survive and hatch and we figure we’ll be shopping for more parsley soon to feed the brood of caterpillars.
Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the weekend.
I’m making a bit more progress on my Classic Impressions Needlepoint that I started in 2020. I don’t know why I’m so slow on this project. I think it’s a pretty piece. I enjoy working on it, I just can’t stay motivated for too long of a stretch of time. 😊
Now for the Secret of the Butterflies. The butterflies in the bouquet behind the needlepoint are really pretty in real life. As I was watering the bouquet the other day, I discovered that the butterflies are made of painted feathers. The body seems to be made with some kind of clay. They’re so cool!
I can imagine trying to make butterflies like this for many different crafts. Keyword is trying. lol
I thought it was such a clever idea that I’d share it here with you, in case you might want to gussy-up a craft with butterflies sometime.
The welcomed budding and blooming of the world waking up from its long winter’s nap has started big-time. As nice as that is, all the pollens and nonsense tend play havoc with our allergies. Might not be as bad if the wind would stop auditioning for the lead role of trying to prove it’s stronger than the Sun. lol
(Remember the fable: The North Wind and The Sun – Aesop Fables)
The warmth of Spring temperatures sporadically makes appearances. Except for nights, more than a few nights, we have to cover my flowers to keep them from freezing. I’m thankful that it won’t be too much longer until the night temperatures should even out and become pleasant.
🌞
We decided to do away with a couple of our flowerbeds and let the areas go back to yard. My husband took the soil from the flowerbeds and put it on our garden. The result from adding the soil to our garden is volunteer zinnias growing sporadically throughout the rows among the vegetables.
The other day, I was taking pictures, with my phone, of a lovely patch of zinnias growing in our carrots and cucumbers. A beautiful female Black Swallowtail Butterfly was feeding on the blooms. I managed a few photos, hoping one of them would be fine. I wasn’t sure about the zoom feature, but it turned out okay.
Yesterday, as I was looking to see if the carrot tops had actual carrots making under any of them. I was surprised to see an adorable black swallowtail caterpillar feeding quietly on a carrot top. I was so excited.
Unfortunately, it was fixing to rain, and I didn’t have my camera, so I rushed (not ran lol) to the house and grabbed my phone and rushed back to the garden. I snapped a few photos and rushed back to the house just in the nick-of-time as the rain began to pour. Considering my rushing, this photo turned out pretty good.
I’m so happy I got to see the caterpillar. Unfortunately, because of birds, I fear the caterpillar won’t make it to be a butterfly. Then again, it might, I wouldn’t have thought a caterpillar could’ve made it to the size it has.
I considered taking the caterpillar home with me and finish it’s raising in an aquarium like I did with some back a half dozen years ago, but I just don’t have the heart to take it away from the fresh air, rain, sunshine and fresh carrot tops. Here’s a link to one of my blog posts during my butterfly raising adventures: Black Swallowtail Butterfly Lifecycle
*Just a note here:
I know the caterpillars will happily eat the carrot tops to the ground. We’ve plenty of carrots growing and it’s not an issue if we lose a few of them.
Here’s wishing you all beautiful butterflies and smiles.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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Joys Of Creating 