The fuzzy, serrated leaves of poppies had sprouted up all
over the lawn on the southwest side of the house that spring and he didn’t want
to kill them, so the lawnmower was kept in its shed. Perhaps it was the stunning beauty of the red
flowers that were yet to grow and bloom.
Perhaps it was that poppies are as close to a sacred flower as one could
get to Canadians of a certain age who have lived through countless Remembrance
Days in schools, churches and at war memorials that were prominent in every
town. Nevertheless, he allowed them to
grow and blossom in freedom, even though it broke the code of grass separated
from “gardens” that most people in the small town observed.
Once the glorious petals had done their job of attracting
pollinators, they fell, one by one until the grass was covered in red. The seed pods grew and he couldn’t just cut
them down knowing they contained the very stuff of new life. And so the lawnmower stayed put.
To his surprise, new plants started emerging amongst the
poppy stalks. As he watched, they grew
and became obviously Common Milkweeds.
There was news of declining Monarch Butterfly populations on the radio
and in the press and people were being encouraged to grow milkweed plants so
that the butterflies had a place to lay their eggs. Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed and
the species cannot survive without it.
Milkweed was labelled at that time as a “noxious weed” by most
municipalities, so growing it was kind of illegal. But the story about the plant was in flux
and people were changing their minds about it because Monarch butterflies were as
close to a sacred insect as you could get for Canadians.
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/Common Milkweed plants in flower |
And so, he left the plants alone. They grew and their hundreds of tiny pink
flowers opened and filled the air with a sweet, pleasing scent. He watched for butterflies to appear but only
saw one or two that whole summer.
Perhaps the news of declining populations was correct. They used to be everywhere when he was a
kid. The flowers became seed pods filled
with silky strands and oval shaped brown seeds.
He left them alone and needless to say, the lawnmower was not used until
the late fall.
The next spring, more poppies popped up and he loved
them. But the main event became the
milkweed emergence. The rhizomes of the
original ones shot up new stems and brand new plants emerged as well, perhaps
from the seeds that he left on the plants to fall and blow where they
might. Perhaps new plants emerged in far
off places as well. He imagined
delighted butterflies encountering them along their migration route. That summer, more butterflies showed up and
he watched the leaves of the plants for chew marks. He was delighted to find one caterpillar
happily munching along a leaf. He left
the plants to go to seed and collected some seed pods to share with other
people.
Now, five years later, there are about one hundred milkweed
plants in that side yard. They have
flowered and the air is so sweet that you can smell it from the sidewalk as you
walk up the long driveway. Many Monarchs
can be seen wafting over the plants and with the sun shining, it feels like a
dream, somewhere to go to in a meditation, something that conjures up feelings
of peace and serenity.
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Monarch caterpillar eating Common Milkweed |
Always on the
lookout for caterpillars, this year he has been astonished at the number he has
found. By carefully lifting up leaves
and getting down on his knees, he has found tiny ones, little ones, medium
sized ones and ones that look like they might just explode. He has noticed that they seem to favour the
tiny young plants that grow in the shade of the cedars. Perhaps these are more tender for tiny
caterpillar mandibles. The caterpillars
seem to eat a bit of a plant and then move on.
Perhaps they have an agreement not to kill any one plant. Perhaps their relationship is one of
support. The toxic milky substance
inside of the leaves and stems is what makes Monarch caterpillars and
butterflies taste bad to predators who have learned to leave them alone. And the caterpillars only eat plants in the
milkweed family without decimating the population.
Now, he is on the look out for a lovely green and silver
Monarch chrysalis that may be hanging from leaves. They blend in (on purpose) with the
surroundings and so they are hard to spot.
But he has good eyes and is determined, so the hunt goes on. Oh, and you know by now where the lawnmower
is. It is fascinating to know that when
the caterpillar goes into the chrysalis, all the cells go into a kind of green
mush and then reorganize into a butterfly.
The cells that have the genetic coding for the adults have been called
“imaginal cells” by scientists. They
direct the formation of a butterfly from green mush. Amazing!
|
\I think the mouth is at the far end |
He is hoping that if he can find a chrysalis and he keeps
checking it, he might be able to view the emergence of the wet butterfly. He can imagine that happening and is eager to
see it for himself.
Curious to know what the current status of the Monarchs is,
he learned that that this year,
according to Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s National Commissioner for Protected
Natural Areas, ,there has been a 144% increase in the Monarch
population overwintering in Mexico this year (CBC website). Experts believe this is because of increased
protection of habitat where the butterflies winter and the planting of milkweed
along their migration route by people who care about them. People who had the imagination to imagine a
different world, where Monarchs and Milkweeds thrived. People like him. Perhaps they were all the imaginal cells of
this new story of restoration, this new story of diversity instead of a
monoculture lawn.
Some of these people
planted milkweed in their yards. All he
did was leave the lawnmower in the shed and get out of the way of life that was
ready to regenerate. And there were
enough people to make a difference. I
imagine that it isn’t a very large percentage of the population that have done
this, but it is enough. I don’t know,
but maybe all the cells in the mush of a chrysalis aren’t imaginal cells. Maybe all people don’t have the imagination
to imagine a different future. But those
that do, can make all the difference.
Imaginal people are creating this new story.