Out on the balcony on Sunday, I saw that a cocoon which had been hanging on the wall of the house all winter had hatched, and the butterfly was sitting on the French window surround drying her wings. The first butterfly of spring. Then later, while clearing out some hollyhocks which I'd not used for the containers, I found ...
... the first of the next generation. So it's time to get the caterpillarium going again - an old toybox of my son's which I fill with all the "extra" seedlings which for some reason I decide not to use. And I then transfer to there all the caterpillars which I find on the plants which I don't want to lose.
At the moment though, I've got it covered with fleece. On Sunday it was 21°C. Now, two days later, it's 7°, and they're predicting it may go as low as 1°. And just when all the seeds I planted over the last three weeks were starting to germinate ...
5 comments:
Is it a Brimstone? They say its colour tells us how good the summer will be (and is the origin of the word 'butterfly'). A deep yellow suggests we are in for a hot one!
Not sure John. The colour's right, but the wings don't look quite the right shape (in comparison with some photos I've just found on the net). But I'm anything but an expert on butterflies.
Hi Sue,this is the first time I've come to your blog(found your link in Carol's May Dream garden)and I've found it really interesting with some lovely photographs as well.I'll return back to see the developments in your Balcony Garden.
Hi Sue
I would just like to say that it is great to see someone has finally realised that one can have all the glory of a garden on a balcony. I set up a company specifically to provide containers gardens for balconies, and will be putting up a links pages soon, I hope I can cite your website? my site is www.gardini.ie and I am based in Dublin, Ireland
Well done, great blog
Karen
Green Thumb - thank you for visiting, and I hope you come back soon.
Karen - nice site! I hope your business takes off and I'd love to be on your links page. Your containers are super (I love the white ones) but I was really excited by your mention of a lime-resistant rhododendron. I get no rainwater on the balcony and can't collect it, and Milan has the hardest water of anywhere I've ever lived. So I've given up with azaleas, rhododendrons and so on. Can you give me some more details?
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