Last summer I was given three heirloom tomatoe plants by Bob Feingold. I believe it was meant to be that I was at the morning minyan service the day he brought tomato plants to share. Shortly after that day, I broke a bone in my foot and didn’t get much further than my courtyard all summer so those plants became even more important to me.It was just a month after my husband died and being present in my garden  and tending my garden became very therapeutic for me.  Experiencing the every day gifts of nature was a healing environment for me. Bob writes a blog on his website. In his blog...

On June 17th I noticed tented painted lady caterpillars on my licorice plant (helichrysum petrolatum).The licorice plant is a larval plant for the painted lady butterfly.The painted lady is one of the most widespread butterflies in the world.It can be found in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Butterflies always have particular larval plants that they feed on such as milkweed for the monarch butterfly. They instinctively lay their eggs on plants that the caterpillars will eat.The painted lady is not as particular as most and it has several host plants including  thistle, mallow,...