I Need to Get Out More...

A new friend of mine came over to my house for the first time last week.

I gave her the 'grand tour' of our circa 70's house, including the back yard, which has been nicely landscaped by my husband over the last 8 years. He is a gardener and from New York. So when we were planted in Houston, both depressed because this is one place neither of wanted to live, he decided he would find something positive about it. He did. The growing season.

He had added many plants that can only be grown in this sub-tropic region. He has an extensive herb garden, our yearly Christmas poinsettias all in a riotous red patch and a 5 foot tall ginger plant among other botanical wonders.

The boys I added mostly mess, including 3 rabbits and their pens (now gone.) Our two lovely dachshunds plant their 'land mines' on a daily basis and the squirrels still reign high command. Though not House Beautiful material, we have a nice spot of earth out back.

Anyway, about 5 years ago the boys and I were really into monarch butterflies. We bought a couple of little milkweed plants (the favorite and ONLY food of the catepillars) and that first year we were rewarded with seeing the whole catepillar-chrysalis-butterfly cycle. What a wonder!

Well, after a few years of the cycle, hatching them indoors and out and disceting those that failed to emerge, our interest finally waned, but our milkweed has not. My gardener-husband has added some plants while the existing ones also multiplied, creating a large patch all along the back window of our house. Sitting in the living room it is commonplace to see a sea of orange and green plants and Monarch butterflies fluttering through our yard many months of the year.

We just got used to it.

When my friend visited, we stepped outside and over to the milkweed patch, or should I say our 'Butterfly Garden' She was impressed. I hadn't really looked at it in a while and saw it with new eyes. The milkweed was 4-5 feet tall and catepillars were everywhere, munching as fast as they could. Upon closer inspection, we saw chrysili hanging all along the side of the house ! There must have been 30-40 of them all over the eaves.. and some industrious catepillars had even traveled cross country over to the BBQ stand to stake their claims The cocoons were in all stages, fresh and green with the catepillar still baking inside... to brown and empty, growing crunchy in the breeze.

I was quite impressed. We have really gravitated indoors as the boys have become older. And all this time nature was continuing on... whether we watched or not.