The Ugly Side of Beauty

One of the things I find very pleasing, satisfying, settling and all around fun is to garden. Now, I have not had the dirt or space to have a real garden in a very long time. I have had space, and a crap load of containers to make up for it. This has been good .

For a while I lived in a big place as a caretaker, handyman or sorts. Big yard. Lots of time to garden but not quit the fun as doing my own thing. I am lucky with plants. They grow when I take care of them. Some come back from the ragged edge of dark plant abyss. Some grow up from little bits, splinters, twigs. Just pay them some attention and viola – a plant.

One of the wonderful things about plants on the patio is the birds and the butterflies. Cute, playful and always hungry birds. Messy, toss the food all over the place birds. Constantly voiding themselves to be light enough to fly away birds. Birds that will not eat out of the new feeders but will crap on them.

Butterflies. Colorful, quite, clean butterflies. Butterflies that have sex with other butterflies and leave eggs on my plants. Eggs that hatch into little green caterpillars. Voracious, eat ten times their body weight in about 2 minutes caterpillars. Eat the leaves off my sweet potatoes and coleus caterpillars.

Now, I am at fault with the birds. I feed them. Every morning I am out there filling the feeders. They sit up there waiting. So, when they are messy I try to smile about all the enjoyment I do get from watching them make messes.

The caterpillars are another story. I love butterflies, don’t get me wrong. And I do not have any type of phobia or neurotic thing about caterpillars. I just hate seeing my plants all mangled. Yesterday morning I just lost it. I spent at least twenty minutes scowering my plants. Eight. Eight of them little bastards! Each and every one went into the fountain. I was crazed! I felt like the Mengele of the Chrysalis! But dang it – I put a lot of time, effort and even money into keeping the place looking nice.

Then over night – stubby little leave stumps and black balls of caterpillar poop. No. Not acceptable at all.

At one point I thought I would just put them all in the bird feeder the birds do not like. Let them eat the seeds and maybe become a fattened up lunch for a sparrow. I swear, I am not going to give them anymore food until they start to use the new feeders. There are starving birds in Africa!

My coleus and my sweet potatoes are going to make it. Somewhere in an alternate universe there are lots of caterpillars singing sad songs about the terrible summer ’round the fountain. Too bad.

Peace,

Ant-Knee