Most of the spring broccoli, cabbage, kale and kohlrabi have been harvested, so I wasn't upset this morning when a pair of cabbage white butterflies appeared in the garden. They caught my attention when they settled in to lay eggs on 'Red Russian' kale. Then I followed them to see where they went.
After hovering about, one landed for a nectar break on blooming cilantro, while another settled in to sip from an arugula flower. When they'd drunk their fill, each took flight to look for more host plants.
The more adventuresome of the two alighted on a pea, and then a squash plant before finding a succulent young kohlrabi. Five seconds later, it had left behind a gossamer liquid pearl with an elongated orange yolk inside - its egg. The other kale fluttered over some rather elderly broccoli without stopping before heading back to the kale.
With only a few host plants suitable for the butterflies' offspring (cabbageworms) still standing in the garden, it took me less than a minute to go around and squash or scrape off eggs. But how much of that do I really want to do? Instead, I'll take the rest of the cabbage family crops out of the garden in the next few days, and use row covers to protect fall seedlings from damage.
