Plant Life
Typically, I don’t pay much attention to who’s eating at what plants in my gardens. But I have several stands of mistflowers, and the Queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus) so heavily populated the bunch in the new garden along the north fence that I had to stand and look yesterday. It’s a striking butterfly and compares favorably to the Monarch, and there were a lot of them on the plants. To anyone inclined to further study, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a page dedicated to how to tell the two members of the Danaus subfamily apart.
It strikes me that perhaps I could pay more attention, and even start cataloging, in some fashion, who comes to dinner, or lunch, or breakfast in the garden. I know the hummingbirds like almost all of my flowers, especially the Turks Caps, although they seldom linger on a bloom, so maybe the nectar pickings are small. I’ve also seen them on the Texas Honeysuckle as well, and the Lantanas on occasion. But I think record keeping might take some of the pleasure out of the hobby.
Unfortunately, that probably qualifies me as a dilettante, and in some circles that’s a pejorative term. But I’ll just have to live with it. Besides, I imagine my plants are hardly concerned at all with who brings them water, as long as they bring it. And, as I’ve said before, I try to avoid pontificating, or even talking too much, about what I know, because I’m fairly certain that while my knowledge might be a mile wide, it’s most likely barely an inch deep. But I still get pleasure from plants and my butterflies and my birds, and that seems a good way to live life.