If You Want The Butterflies…

(The chicken wire ‘domes’ over these marigolds stop the squirrels from happily digging up the plants. The Mafia Squirrels do that for ‘funsies’, taking out entire rows in one session and leaving the dying plants beside their trenches so I can see their handiwork. – eye roll)

I often repeat the saying, “If you want the butterflies, you have to feed the caterpillars.”

This is true for bees also, all types of bees, and other beneficial insects.

We have to create homes and supply food sources for them.

We do a few easy things in the Sax household to help facilitate this.

We leave some leaves on the ground for bees and other insects to overwinter in.

We have some perennial plants we try not to disturb very much. This allows bees to create safe homes around these plants.

(The yellow jackets, for example, build homes around the raspberry bushes.)

We also don’t plant or dig close to fences and other structures as these are great homes for bees also.

We don’t use herbicides or pesticides (these are outlawed in Toronto).

We plant extra vegetables and allow the caterpillars to eat some of those plants (or bits of the rose bushes).

We allow the dandelions to bloom. In our part of the universe, these are usually the first flowers to appear and the bumblebees LOVE them.

We also plant a lot of other bee and butterfly-friendly flowers like marigolds, zinnias and clover.

We’re having our best bee year ever in our neighborhood and I like to think all these actions contributed a little bit toward that.

(smiles)