Sunday, July 28, 2013

A surprise in the garden ~

A long time ago I planted one plant of Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa in my garden for butterflies.
It reseeds itself and now comes up in the most unlikely and sometimes inconvenient places. No matter where, I allow it to be until it dies back. And although I have lots of butterflies, mostly Swallowtails and Monarchs I have never seen any sign of them in the caterpillar or chrysalis stage.
 
 
So I was very excited when I went down to the vegetable garden to pick a tomato for my dinner and saw this! 


I knew immediately what it was. Isn't he gorgeous? I went immediately and got my camera and it is a good thing that I did because by morning he was gone...safely I hope.


This brought back memories of one of my favorite children's books: Sally's Caterpillar. I read it to my children when they were young and then all the years to my students when I was teaching. 

 
 Gardens are such magical places, you never know what lovely things you will happen upon.

 
 Thank you for visiting, I hope you day is full of magical moments.
 
 

12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful capture Adrienne! He is a beauty! I am like you and have never seen one in my garden as caterpillars. I love having them float through the garden and all around me as I work.
    sending hugs...

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  2. That was a lovely surprise. This year has been a bumper year for butterflies in the garden - it's a joy to sit outside and watch them.

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  3. What a beautiful surprise! Milkweed reminds me of my grandmother.

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  4. I like the first one. Beautiful flower.

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  5. The milkweed is lovely. Such an attractive plant for the butterflies. You might enjoy the book that I just read
    Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver. It is about the relationship between people and butterflies.

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  6. You captured it so beautifully. What a magical moment. Thank you for sharing your book too.

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  7. I have tons of Milk Weed also for the butterflies but have never seen the before. I love the butterflies, & hummingbirds. Your pictures are simply beautiful. Thank you.
    Mary

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  8. Oh, I would've been excited to find that caterpillar too! They were just talking on the news recently about how we might not be seeing many butterflies because there is so few milkweed plants for them to feed on.

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  9. What a beautiful, little creature! And such a pleasure to see him. I loved seeing your old book.
    ~Adrienne~

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  10. Wow...such a beautiful caterpillar - and you got some perfectly clear shot of it!

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  11. Oh, how delightful!

    I haven't seen a caterpillar like that since I was a little girl.

    I am so glad you shared - and how NEAT to still have that special book - it looks just the same.

    I am still smiling!

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  12. Hello, Adrienne! It seems your summer has been splendid so far. I share your sentiments about gardens being a magical space. I feel very lucky to have a large and rambling one but any size garden is a special haven.

    Wishing you a lovely week!

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