Butterly Box�

2001-02-26

Despite the fact that it rained the whole darn weekend I actually did something garden related. I'm building a butterfly box.

We have this passion flower vine in the yard, and apparently the caterpillers of the gulf frittilary love it. I was going to pull it out because it's pretty straggely, but I wanted to have a garden that was a wildlife sanctuary, and the butterflies are gorgeous. So I put up with a straggely, much chewed vine, and get butterflies in return.

There's only one problem. Ants think that the butterfly pupae are delicious. I've paid with the appearance of my vine to get the caterpillars to a size where they can morph into butterflies, and then the ants eat the pupae. So I'm building this box with screened sides and top and a removeable bottom so I can clean it. I bring in the caterpillars when they get large enough so they can pupate safely. Voila! Butterlies. It's even going to be nice looking. I've stained the wood to match the furniture, no less. Because I already had the stain, of course.

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