18 | January | 2019 | Nature's Place

Giants

Sucking the sap that feeds the bud … To the right of the stem the leaf droops and dies and the bud below never flowers.

*Click on the pictures for a proper look … and click again

A little closer … they can sit there for days, and I let them. But there’s limits, when they take multiple flower buds.

This one was a giant, nearly two inches long. Surveying its domain from on high. Possibly mother to the others.

They are impressive creatures, taking a break from drinking flower juice. Fearless, just doing what they do.

Others were clearly youngsters learning the ropes, buds instead of wings, destructive giants all the same.

Some had to be shown … moved to a native crocus, others to a vine rose. Nice colours, don’t know about the taste.

Gotta do the best with … creatures, life. And reprogram the machine when necessary. Rather, de-program the operator.

… visiting the garden, as big as my thumb. And they appear to be a family, of sorts.

They have a big appetite and if left to it they would consume the butterfly bushes.

But no, I move them on when it looks like they have done enough for the day.

They have a lance, or proboscis, they use to suck the juice from the new stems.

And once they settle in the new bud dies, never flowers, and that won’t do.

The bees depend on the flowers producing nectar to fuel their work.

So it goes, give a little and take a little. They can always fly on.

I usually put them on a tree that has a Hawaiian rose vine on it.

They couldn’t kill it if they tried, and they might enjoy it.

Everything has its season and these will leave soon.

Gardens change and need a little management.

Not unlike us, who may refuse an old habit.

So that the flowers grow.

The way we are …