Monday, July 14, 2008

Beat up butterfly

When we moved into our home in Georgia, there wasn't much landscaping to speak of. There were some foundation plantings, but no color. If anyone was ever at our first home in Jersey, you know that we are all about color!

Money was pretty tight, but I found a discount nursery nearby to supply us with some much needed pizazz in our yard. One of the first plants we put in our cart was a Butterfly Bush. We love them for not only the color they provide, but also for the critters that they attract!

Speaking of critters, check out this butterfly.



I was outside doing some yard work, and his intense color against the purple of the flowers caught my eye. Then I noticed his wings. It looks like he's been through the ringer!



Have you ever seen anything like it?



Needless to say, it opened up the desire to learn a little more about butterflies. Can you say Google?



We learned that this was most likely an older butterfly. In their adult stage, depending on the species, they can live anywhere from a week to nearly a year. As they age, their wings become increasingly damaged, and will not repair themselves.

How about that? An old man butterfly. I wonder what stories he could tell?

2 comments:

Christa said...

That rain really greened things up! That poor little butterfly! My purple bush is looking pretty good, too! Oh, BTW, someone gave me their germs this weekend - I have a sore throat.

Tink *~*~* said...

I was going to theorize that he got snatched by a hungry bird, but somehow escaped at the last moment. He is very pretty in spite of the condition of his wings.