Over the weekend we were in the garden and Bracken discovered a little butterfly in the water. (Or moth? Searched online, but haven’t been able to find what kind it is.) He saved it from the water and it crawled around on his hand and arm. He was delighted with his little friend. One of the wings was broken, but once the wings dried out it was able to fly a tiny bit. Bracken played with the butterfly outside for some time and then we let him bring it inside for a bit. (We didn’t know how much longer it had, really, and he was enjoying it all so much.) I told him his butterfly would probably be happiest if it could go back out to the garden, but he really wanted to bring it with him for nap time and his dad said that was fine. I watched as Bracken took a wooden dollhouse bed, laid down a piece of wool for a blanket, covered it in little flowers he’d picked from the garden, and set the butterfly down in it’s bed. It was the loveliest bed for a butterfly I’d ever seen (and also happened to be the first.) His butterfly didn’t end up living long, but he wasn’t as upset as I thought he might be, he was pretty matter of fact about it.
He’s asked us all kinds of questions about keeping butterflies as pets and wondered if he could feed them worms, since he did start a worm farm after all and his chickens like them so much. We’ve been enjoying learning more about butterflies: they do not eat, they get their nourishment from drinking. They mostly feed on nectar from flowers, so I told Bracken that he had a good idea to make that bed of flowers. Then we talked about how they like living flowers in the garden, though, and they like being outside. Bracken’s response and solution to that was to plant flowers in pots in our bedroom, he’s still clearly set on the pet idea. I can’t help but smile.
We already had plans to plant more flowers in the garden this year. What are your favorite plants to grow that the butterflies love?
Taryn,Hello
Bracken is such an amazing young man. So insightful,creative and caring. Thanks to his equally amazing parents.
I’ve enjoyed your blog for a couple of years now. Congratulations.
Hugs from Canada
Kate
This is so precious!
Thank you all for the suggestions!! I’ve got a flower list going.
That is so sweet. What a beautiful butterfly bed.
I planted Mexican Sunflowers last year and the butterflies and moths were all over them. As well as zinnias, my favorite flower ever. And cosmos. But the wildflowers are the best for them I think.
Thanks for sharing Bracken’s little pet with us.
Milkweed. And bee balm. Make sure you find a mildew resistant variety of bee balm. It doesn’t last all that long and then you have mildewy stems to look at.
we attract alot with tall garden mint when it flowers, calendula, marigolds and lots and lots roses and cosmos!
Your boy is such a cutie! What a sweet thing to do, the bed is just adorable. Josh found an injured butterfly last year that couldn’t fly so he put it in a large tub with water and flowers, covered it with net to stop the cats getting at it and it lived for some time. Each day he would let it wander over his hands and he would pick it new flowers. I think boys are often more nurturing than we expect. Sharon x
First, this is possibly the most precious post ever. I am always amazed at how sweet that little boy of yours is!
I’m taking a brief break from getting my garden going, and in fact, I was just standing out there, lashing together a pea trellis from some stormfall wood we have littering the yard, and I decided to utilize an edge of the garden I’ve never touched before for all sorts of bee and butterfly attracting flowers.
My absolute favorites are bee balm and butterfly weed. This is partly because they both grew wild where I grew up, and the smell just takes me back to my childhood of roaming and creating! And how great is it that I can bring that feeling into the garden with me and have them serve even more purpose, too?