I was thrilled to have some butterfly visitors this summer. Most of the larval plants, which the butterflies seek out to lay their eggs on, are weeds so I chose not to introduce them into my new garden. I did, however, plant a large pot of parsley and dill in the hopes of attracting the eastern black swallowtail. On July 19th, I spotted a black swallowtail flying in the courtyard. I grabbed my camera and got some photos of the butterfly ovipositing on the parsley plant. I found this greenish-yellow egg on the parsley after she flew away. The caterpillar chews it's way out of the egg in about...

On these crisp, sunny, fall days we have had a dozen or more monarch butterflies hangin' out in our backyard .They prefer to cluster on the purple buddleia bushes, which this late in the season are more like  trees. We have really been enjoying the dance of the monarchs as they flutter overhead before they head off on their miraculous journey! Through the years we have participated in tagging the monarchs in the fall season through the Monarch Watch program sponsored by the University of Kansas. Researchers use these tags  to track the butterflies migration to Mexico. We've also raised monarch...