To not know why butterflies are good

[BuonoEstente]

Obviously they're lovely but I have pesky caterpillars and they're munching at my foxgloves (sob sob). Can someone share with me why they should be encouraged in my garden. They may pollinate come spring but that's fuck all use when all my plants are leafless.

Butterflies and moths
I feckin' hate them.
There is nothing 'lovely' about them.
However, they are very useful, help pollination, part of the food chain, etc...
But I can't even look at pictures of them without my stomach churning and wanting to throw up (think I might need some therapy)

The problem with the caterpillars is that they could just be for vile hideous terrifying moths. In which case you should kill them with fire. But they could be beautiful butterflies, which make your garden look just as lovely as the foxgloves...

This will probably be the most utterly useless reply you get, I may as well give myself a now!

I absolutely despise butterflies and moths, I can't think of anything scarier!!

I'm quite partial to a moth, I had a beautiful gold one once which I later found dangling out of my cats mouth, he loves them too.

I'm with hells. I even prefer wasps to butterflies.
They're just so disturbing the way they flutter .

You have to remember that butterflies and moths don't exist in isolation. They and their offspring provide food for other creatures and have evolved over millions of years to coexist in many ecosystems. As to munching on your foxgloves, I'm surprised they are even growing at this time of year, let alone have caterpillars on them - where are you?

I'm in the UK, I have a variety that you plant in March for flowering the next year and they keep their leaves over winter (what's left of them anyway)

YANBU. Hideous tongued little fuckers creep me out.

Moths are great food for bats.

BuonoEstente
most foxgloves are biennial so you plant for flowering next year. I meant that usually the leaves die back in winter, new growth comes in the spring along with the flower stem. I doubt if the caterpillars are doing much harm.

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my completely irrational phobia here!
Everyone I know thinks I'm bonkers for this.

Thanks Ifailed, I didn't know that, leaves are still looking bushy and full but it'll stop me panicking when they die off (and has soothed my caterpillar rage). Very glad I posted now.

"die off" is probably a bit extreme, but the plant basically goes to sleep and the leaves will start to look a bit ropey. Come spring, though, a whole new set will emerge, along with the flowers.

So glad I'm not the only one that doesn't like butterflies.
Fucking moths in track suits!

I thought this was going to be about relationships, but actual butterflies

I love them, but I also have a grudging respect for wasps and their late summer sugar madness.

I was taken to an indoor butterfly and moth sanctuary when I was young. Bloody things fluttering everywhere, landing on me and flapping their wings. I cried so much I had to be taken out. Hated the bastards ever since. Give me a bee or wasp any day cos at least you can hear them coming!

I feel compelled to come on and defend butterflies and moths. I love them (especially moths) they are just beautiful and fascinating, they don't hurt anyone, they don't sting or bite.

They have an amazing life cycle, - a caterpillar feeding itself up, turning into a pupa, then turning into a soup which gets reconstituted into a moth - that's beyond imagination it's so brilliant. They are true wonders of nature. Some are so sensitive that a male can detect a miniscule amount of female moth pheremone from miles away, and he will fly those miles to find her.

And they have a dreamy ethereal quality about them - beautiful yet fragile, drawn to the light even though it may take them to their doom. A long developing process for a short lived but incredible life - colourful, fluttering, swooping and dancing.

You are all mad - moths and butterflies are nature's finest hour.

(and that is the end of the party political broadcast on behalf of the Lepidoptera Party )

Butterfly farm=one of the most horrific experiences of my life.

Fucking moths in tracksuits, I love it, I'm nicking that

I had a lovely moth once, it was in a Tesco herb salad, I nearly bit it. The thought of half a moth on my plate is making me shudder, months later.

Fucking moths in track suits

KurriKurri I re-read your post, I'd missed the bit where you wrote 'they have a dreamy ethereal quality about them - beautiful yet fragile, drawn to the light' I think I might convert to Lepidopterism

You can put the ball in their court - if you pick the caterpillars off and put them on another kind of plant, they refuse to eat it and die, apparently.

Oooo good plan

I found a culprit today, I popped it on the bird feeder - no birds have been yet and it's wiggling and making me feel guilty.

I got attacked by a hawk moth once. Not once but for about an hour it kept swooping at me and hitting me and it was about the size of my hand. I finally trapped it and drove 20 miles away and threw the box out of the window. It was absolutely horrible, really demonic. ❤ moths in tracksuits 😀