|
|
"It is astounding how little the ordinary person notices butterflies… I confess I do not believe in time. I like to fold my magic carpet, after use, in such a way as to superimpose one part of the pattern upon another. Let visitors trip. And the highest enjoyment of timelessness - in a landscape selected at random - is when I stand among rare butterflies and their food plants. This is ecstasy, and behind the ecstasy is something else, which is hard to explain. It is like a momentary vacuum into which rushes all that I love. A sense of oneness with sun and stone. A thrill of gratitude to whom it may concern - to the contrapuntal genius of human fate or to tender ghosts humouring a lucky mortal." Vladimir Nabokov, Butterflies. Autobiography. New Yorker, June 12, 1948. |
Insects and other invertebrates dominate animal life. Whether measured up in terms of biomass or species, invertebrates make up 95% or more of animal life on Earth. Insects pollinate plants, disperse seeds and distribute vital nutrients throughout the ecosystem. One third of human food depends on wild pollinators - bees, moths and other insects - for fruit and other plants to properly grow. Take away insects, and an ecosystem would collapse. |
Amphibians are an integral part of the Ecogarden. This Gray Tree- frog has included our house in his territory. He seems to enjoy climbing the walls as much as climbing tree trunks. |
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails appear in our garden in May and are as spectacular as Monarchs. |