To Be or Not to be, survival, passion and priorities! todays post is about watching the caterpillars bloom into beautiful butterflies! The butterfly symbolizes hope beauty and joy. Its behavior of joyfully fluttering happily and vibrant colors brings so much happiness and a sense of freedom. Never been this close without screaming! but after looking at them and accepting their life cycle, gathered some confidence and clicked close ups! making butterfly garden tips.
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Its always a riot of colours!
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| Creepy caterpillar in garden |
These caterpillars are really huge. Thick and long like my fore finger size.
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| Feeding Huge Caterpillar |
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| Moving Above Caterpillar on plant |
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| Huge droppings from huge caterpillar |
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| Caterpillar feeding droppings |
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| Close up of feet of caterpillar |
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| Growing fast caterpillar of huge butterfly |
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| Finger sized huge caterpillar |
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| Head Eyes of caterpillar |
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| Feeding with a large appetite caterpillar close up |
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| Close up of Caterpillar eyes feet |
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| Caterpillar moving along the plant |
an emotional decision,..I let them be...
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| plants eaten by caterpillars |
especially after they ate up all my black pepper corns! Plants and insects have always been along with gardening and its a cycle of nature. always with gardening over the years I have learned so many lessons, not only about priorities and about space but also how each plant grows and what is required to keep them happy and how we become protective and possessive and so do they!
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| Caterpillar in our garden |
So while I check the pest and each ones growth conditions and feedings, the garden is full of butterfly eggs. she has taken to our terrace garden as a second home! every year its a challenge to let her increase her clan and also protect my precious ones from dying.
The huge butterfly no doubt is beautiful and more so as I want to see the new lives, I also want to protect my terrace garden plants from dying of shock, and especially my orange plant that is struggled to grow, since many months and just picked up. and these caterpillars have a voracious appetite and in a single day eat up a whole plant!
My heart and My Brain...a lot of tussle, thoughts...previously I transferred some to a large garden, meanwhile mommy butterfly keeps visiting everyday once at least to check her babies. . Finally my heart won and I manually transferred the caterpillar to other plants, they also love palms that are thick and long leaves and the bulbs of amaryllis with elongated leaves.
I personally don't like creepy creatures but they are life, and I would kill them till a few years back as they would eat up my plants but this time I let them be, many also shed away with heavy rains down the drain...Guess, my reasoning was, our garden has plenty of thick growth this rainy season so they can feed upon, instead of my trimming the long thick bushes! of course as long as they do no major damage or kill my precious plants. Keeping a check!
Make your butterfly garden! Tips for transferring Butterfly Larvae and caterpillars
1) Identify the plants they are on. Check for sticky leaves with black spots -eggs- and leaves stuck together, these are the cocoons.
2) see the plant leaves being eaten, usually thick growing plants with huge leaves are preferred by Mommy butterfly so that Babies get enough food. Beware, in a single day they can make a plant barren!
3) Usually the eggs are laid in such a away that they are covered by thick foliage and even in very heavy rains the eggs and caterpillars cling to the leaves.
4) Leaves can be carefully trimmed (please wear gloves! I didn't! as usual impatient soul! ) with care for the eggs, larvae and then put in other large pots with big sized foliage plants, so they can feed.
5) Caterpillars can be shifted manually in a tray to large plants.
6) Remember birds love worms! and these may be easily spotted so they become food! of course they are smart enough to hide immediately with transfer. Protect them from external environmental hazards by a protective covering or green house.
7) If you have few plants and want to save your plants you can trim the leaves with butterfly eggs and transfer them to a society or common , any other garden that is thick and has huge leaves for the caterpillars to grow. This way you save them and they get in abundance food that is growing wild and waste plants.
8) how to identify butterfly eggs-they are blackish spots on leaves and you will notice the same, mother butterfly, always coming for rounds every day near these plants.
9) Palms, and elongated leaves, large sized leaves, foliage plants, ornamental plants, and even the Thailand Goodluck cactus plant is loved by them.
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| My little space under the sun |
People do grow special butterfly gardens with specific plants to nurture their growth. We saw during Dubai festival, there is magical butterfly garden, must visit, amazingly beautiful Dubai Butterfly garden.
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| Dubai Miracle Garden |
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| Dubai Miracle garden |
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Dubai Magical Garden Dubai festival
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| Dubai Frame |
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| Dune Bashing and this huge Amazing Eagle |
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at Miracle Garden Dubai
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| Big plant container with varieties of plants together |
I have tried growing interesting combinations in big sized plant container and this gave me the idea that you can actually make a tiny garden with combination plants with just one big pot.
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| Goodluck Cactus plant |
Coming to the caterpillars I really don't know how many will remain and if they will come up with a new life, but Wishing them All the Best!
Meanwhile on art front after completing a commissioned painting for a Singapore art buyer, took three months, a great collection of Kundalini awakening healing paintings. |
Knife technique Kundalini awakening reiki abstract art in pr
ogress |
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| making spiritual kundalini painting |
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| Kundalini Reiki large abstract healing painting |
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| Reiki Kundalini painting for abundance and success |
and still a few in progress a much needed break to mountains was our family trip ,fresh air, wilderness and Awesum fog with rains!
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| Huge Money plant |
Plants also grow in any place they reach, this beautiful coconut tree was happily growing among such thick wild trees!
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| Coconut tree in wilderness |
Being an Reiki healing artist and a writer and the exposure to radiation from internet and mobile phones, requires frequent earth energy breaks to connect with actual life outside!
Read more on
Rizwana's blog Garden Care Simplified-
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| Natural water fall in mountains |
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| Mountains Road trip, Awesum season |
nature and the atmosphere. by just a joy road trip or a few days away helps refresh my mind and my soul!now back to my little space under the sun! with paints , canvasses, plants and my heavenly friends!
Awesum Day!
Happy Gardening from Rizwana!
Sharing practical container
gardening tips with my Google Blog Garden Care Simplified since year 2010 to
encourage growing plants, improving the eco system and environment and adding
fragrances and colours through exotic flowers in your life!
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Overflowing blessings my Terrace garden plants
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All the Best from Rizwana!
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