It's the time of year again when I find my citrus plants covered in wiggling bird poop. The caterpillar form of the swallowtail butterfly is extra fond of citrus plants and they make a point to have their first point of life in my garden. I have a rule that I make plain to the little critters: you can stay if you don't eat too many leaves. Eat too much and you get evicted. It does no good for them if the plant dies.

It got me thinking: where do others sit on the scale of "magazine perfect lawn piece" to "it's less garden and more forest area I found to live in"?

Do you have everything where the animals can't get to them or are you fighting the birds for the perfect ripeness of a fig?

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 8 points 4 months ago

My mom got some sort of a plant that was meant for butterflies. She thought it would attract butterflies. She didn't understand that once they were attracted, they would lay eggs, the eggs would hatch, and the plants would be covered by caterpillars, destined to become butterflies.

My mom did not appreciate all those caterpillars, and that was the end of the butterfly plant.

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