A Swallowtail Butterfly

This afternoon I walked out into the garden. It was the first time I had been out there since the hard freeze. Vince kept asking me if I had seen it but I just could muster up the courage to walk out there and find everything dead.

It didn’t look as bad as I suspected. The elderberries and garlic were fine. The bee balm was fine. The onions looked ragged and I’m sure all the tops will wither and die but the bottoms will be fine and they will produce more tops.

The artichokes look awful but they aren’t dead – just the outer leaves are damaged. I trimmed some on them and I think they’ll be fine and still produce this year.

The asparagus looks awful but it’s just what was up. New growth will come up from below the surface and in a few weeks, we’ll be having asparagus every day again.

I was pulling weeds in the garlic and came across this beautiful swallowtail butterfly, a male I’m guessing. I was so close to him, I thought he was injured but when I got a little closer, he flew away.

It was worth the trip to the garden, just to get to see that beautiful butterfly. It was also nice to see that the garlic and elderberries were not damaged.

The spinach has not come up yet and the blackberries haven’t done much so I’m hoping neither of them were damaged too badly.

Our favorite place here in town that sells fresh veggies and bedding plants had to close last year and move to a new location. They may be opening this weekend and I hope they do. I want to get more artichokes and if they have tomato and pepper plants, I’ll buy a few and keep them in the greenhouse for a few more weeks before planting them. I’m ready to get my hands in the dirt.

We have a few more nights in the forecast with temps in the 30’s but it won’t be long til we can plant everything.