A few weeks ago I wrote that the only thing that was growing in my vegetable/herb garden was a fine crop of swallowtail caterpillars.
I saw a caterpillar hanging on my rainbarrel so ran into get my camera since I thought he might be starting his chrysalis. By the time I got the camera and the film of humidity had evaporated from the lens, the chrysalis was already formed. I was surprised at how quickly it took place.
Terry and I watched the chyrsalis for 8 days and while we weren’t looking, the butterfly escaped!
I was disappointed but a few days later, I saw two swallowtail butterflies that had just emerged from their chrysalises. Pretty cool.
I’ve had a bunch of swallowtails hanging out. Here’s some photos. Or these could just be the same butterfly on different flowers.
Pretty, Pretty, Pretty.
Back in May I put up a post about my 
As I paid, another familiar face wearing his signature Warren Zevon glasses, said it’d been bought out by a landscaping company by the name of Hildreth Sod and the plans were to get it back up to operation asap. There have been issues with growers that have gone out of business or changed hands, as they have, so just getting stock takes time. I tend to believe that. Even a rose from J&P can be in short supply (they’ve been out of Simplicity White for like 2 seasons now). It takes 3–5 years to grow one big enough to sell…which is about how long this recession has been. So, I’ll be patient and will continue to buy from my local guys and hope you will too. Over the years I can safely say that I’ve not had anything I bought from them not perform. Buying from the Big Box Stores is convenient, but let’s just say, it’s a lottery. So, like the rest of us weathering the economic hurricane, my favorite plant purveyors are still hanging on – by their fingernails, but hanging on.
