Butterfly, Night Guardian of the Green Peppers!

Back in May, I bought several green pepper plants and planted them in a huge pot, which we placed in a green wheeled cart in the yard. My husband took over the care of the peppers after that, moving the cart around to maximize the plants' sunlight, giving them water and plant food, and just generally fussing over them.

This is something of a transformation, as my husband had never been much of a plant person before. But somehow, he's come into his own as a gardener of green peppers. All three bushes are loaded with green peppers now, and we have eaten lots of them already, with many more to come. One of my husband's favorite things to do is to go into the yard in the morning and pluck a fresh green pepper - that's never known refrigeration or transport - and bring it in for our morning omelet, or for a salad later in the day.

On this particular morning, my husband came running into the house, telling me that he'd found a butterfly on the green pepper plants. He had been watering the plants and noticed it there. So of course, I ran out with my camera, and there was indeed a lovely butterfly just sitting quietly on the plants - practically posing for me. It had spent the night there, apparently guarding the pepper plants from any harm. (My husband indicates he can use all the help he can get.)

This is the side view of a butterfly that is called a red-spotted purple, Limenitis arthemis astyanax. (I posted a photo of one with its wings open back in early June.) I wonder if you spotted the scattering of orange hearts on its wings near its body. Now that I have noticed them before, I am on the alert for butterfly hearts.

The song to accompany this photo of the loyal night guardian of the green peppers is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with Nightwatchman.