The small, brown-winged creature perches on a cutleaf coneflower, searching for nectar. White strips circle its body and splash across its wings, resembling the foamy edges of waves about to reach the shore. Moth or butterfly? Butterflies and moths belong to the same taxonomic order – Lepidoptera, which means “scaled.” The wings of both moths…

When I got up the other day, my cats were in a tizzy. They prowled the foyer, gazing upward, on alert. A moth had gotten in. You can find moths almost anywhere. They show up on your screen doors. They flutter around your porch lights. They sip nectar from flowers. They get trapped in spiders’…

Yesterday afternoon, amid a misting rain, my garden inhabitants went about their business. With summer’s heat and a first cold snap behind them, I imagine they relished the coolness and the damp. As I trimmed and tidied, I tried not to disturb them. It wasn’t always easy. They hid well. A lizard perched motionless amid…

Back in 2020, when I was posting stories about our Shamrock Gardens butterfly calendar, I somehow ran out of steam (it was a challenging time). Now that my Butterfly Gardening book is out, I thought I’d finish the job. October, November, December, here we come! First up: Pipevine Swallowtails. I so love these beautiful butterflies….

I’m delighted to announce that Jardines y mariposas, the Spanish edition of Butterfly Gardening in The Carolina Piedmont, is now available on Amazon (I hope to have it placed in local bookstores soon). Many thanks to Mare Keziah for her expert translation, and to Little Shiva for fitting the new text into her beautiful design.

A Tiger Swallowtail glides above my backyard creek, held up by yellow wings with coal-black tiger stripes. It heads toward a clethra bush festooned with spikes of nectar-filled pink flowers. It settles and sips. I never tire of watching. Late summer is butterfly season here in the North Carolina Piedmont. . . . If you’re…

Butterfly Gardening in the Carolina Piedmont draws on my years of experience at Shamrock Gardens Elementary and in my own garden. It can be purchased at Park Road Books, Reedy Creek Nature Center and Preserve, Stevens Creek Nature Preserve and on Amazon. It can also be read for free, courtesy of Queen City Nerve, at…

Growing a butterfly garden is a multifaceted delight. It also serves the planet. Butterflies pollinate a wide range of plants. Caterpillars transform leaves into food for birds, frogs, lizards, mice and countless other creatures. With residential and industrial development rapidly consuming open land, home habitat gardening has taken on new urgency.

Caterpillars pass through five stages of growth, called instars, before they make chrysalises or cocoons. They enter each new stage by shedding their old skins. This Polyphemus cat is nearing the end of its last stage. Caterpillars often stop eating a day or so before shedding. They use silk to attach their rear ends to…

I thought I was done with Polyphemus moths when the past spring’s group didn’t end up producing any offspring. I was wrong. Last fall, students in a friend’s preschool class found a caterpillar at their school. It made a cocoon and stayed in it all winter. Two weeks ago, a beautiful Polyphemus emerged – a…