THIS MONTH'S GARDENING FEATURE ...

Butterflies... Nature's Nymph

They float in mid-air like splashes of sunlight. Your eye will strain to follow their flight and they will disappear as their wings open and close, glide and fall; you'll catch sight again and you will recall with wonder the childhood memories of butterfly nets and mason jars.

Do children today collect butterflies? Have they seen a firefly? There is something important about gardening. It is more than blooms and soil, water and earthworms. It is an opportunity to teach, to instruct and to make sacred the connection between mother earth and the child in each of us.

Is there ever an hour passes too soon, than one spent in the garden? Our schedules today are packed minute to minute, appointment to appointment, car pool to car repair. Our food is fast, our lines are long and our souls grow weary.

And then there is the butterfly.

It is the symbol for everything we long for. It is beauty; ethereal and elusive. It is summertime, cloudless skies and it is becoming all too rare a sight. A butterfly can bring a garden to life, just as a garden can nurture the life of a butterfly. There are memories that strike a chord of wonder; the flash of lightening in the summer sky, the quiet of an evening snowfall, and the sight of a butterfly in flight.

We encourage you to rediscover this sense of wonder with a child. Whether it is your son or daughter, grandson or niece, neighbor or student; it is important to introduce them to the wonders that hover about us daily as we race past them towards the next appointment or soccer match.

Create a butterfly garden and you will create a pocket of wonder. Whether your garden is planted with flowers or fennel, attracting caterpillars as well as butterflies; it will teach your young assistant something worth learning; the seeds you plant in spring take patience, diligence and care. That the beauty of the butterfly floating upon a summer breeze, or basking on a sun soaked stone, is in those seeds you planted months, or even years ago. There is a reward to planning, patience and effort. There is a connection between your garden, your unique creation, and the butterfly that finds a home there.

Take the time to learn more about the caterpillars and their moths, the hummingbird and the cardinal. Create that time and you might just find that commute a bit easier to take.

Slow down. Enjoy your days in the garden.