It’s a bug’s life

When we were planting our new tulip tree, our next-door neighbor popped her head into the yard and let us know that it was the perfect tree for Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. A few days ago, I came home to find her inspecting my parsley for caterpillars (successfully, I might add).

This is not surprising. In fact, I plant the parsley mainly as food for her caterpillars and even if I didn’t love lavender, I’d still have a few planted for her bees. Julie’s entire yard is a bug haven. She has three bee hives, lots of natives, and a host of butterfly friendly plants. This time of year, she’s constantly tending to her bees and monitoring the caterpillars. Soon, she’ll be watching over the chrysalises that will attach to our houses.

Now that we’re all staying at home more, she’s taking some fantastic photos of the bugs she’s finding in our yards.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

 

Black Swallowtail

 

Eight-Spotted Forester Moth Caterpillar

 

Cloudless Sulphur Moth Caterpillar

 

Cloudless Sulphur Moth 

 

Monarch Caterpillar

 

Monarch emerging from a chrysalis

 

Male monarch just hanging out

 

Praying Mantis Nest

 

Praying Mantis 

Leave a Reply