Ovipositing Butterfly - Word for Wednesday "Ephemeral"

1.12 pm

Ephemeral is the Word 4 Wednesday, a meme hosted by Donna at Garden Walk Garden Talk Blog. The definition for Ephemeral is "having a short life cycle or existence, not lasting".

Turnera ulmifolia (Yellow Alder) flowers open in the morning. Such beautiful blooms, so rich in nectar but it is only for a few hours. By mid-day the flowers would be closed. At the Rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama lives some Tawny Coaster butterflies that feed on the nectar from these flowers.

This flower was just about to close when I chance upon a lone tawny coaster butterly flipping its wings and darting about from flower to flower, leaf to leaf, plant to plant.

1.26 pm

This butterfly was not dancing in courtship, neither was it searching for nectar. I knew that the moment will soon come. So I sat by the planter box and waited under the hot sun, observing this butterfly flipping and darting for some time.

“Ovipositing Butterfly - Word for Wednesday "Ephemeral”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on Nov 2nd, 2011.

1.29 pm

 “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. 

Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces.

Smell the rain, and feel the wind.

Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

..... Ashley Smith

The life of this flower is short. So is the life of the butterfly. Both having an ephemeral existence.

1.44 pm

“Only a life lived for others is a life worth while.”

..... Albert Einstein

Watching this butterfly laying the first egg was an unforgetable experience for me. Here I was sitting beside this ovipositing butterfly at the rooftop garden 7 floors above a shopping complex. It was like witnessing the birth of a baby! At the same time, I was touched. This is a feeling I can't find words to describe.

2.07 pm

Shortly after 2:07pm, she was finished and she flew off, never to see her newborns again. And these babies will never get to see or know their mom. If I asked what will happen to those babies, my late father would always reply, "The Almighty will take care of them". That's the beauty of nature.

Now, the next time you see a caterpillar in your garden hungrily devouring your beloved plants and vegetables, will you let them eat on to grow up and become the beautiful butterflies they are meant to be?  ..... and to pollinate the flowers that'll change into the fruits and seeds that'll reproduce and feed many lifes on Earth? or .....

Footnote: Photographs taken in May 2011.

This is also my entry for Fertilizer Friday hosted by Glenda at Tootsie Time here.