19/08/2025
✨ Notes from the Apothecary Garden ✨
Today, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly danced over the verbena, pausing long enough to draw nectar before drifting towards the calendula and rosemary. These butterflies, once abundant, are now a treasured sight as numbers have declined in recent decades.
In folklore, butterflies were believed to carry messages between worlds, symbols of rebirth and the soul’s journey. The Small Tortoiseshell, with its fiery orange wings bordered in midnight and jewels of blue, embodies resilience and transformation.
Our garden is alive with pollinators just now — golden rod, calendula, Solomon’s seal, rosemary, lavender, and crocosmia all offering nectar. Each plant has its own medicine: calendula to soothe the skin, rosemary for remembrance, lavender for rest. The butterfly, visiting each in turn, reminds us that healing often comes through connection and movement — a gentle weaving of one gift into another.
🌿🦋 Planting for pollinators nourishes more than the insects — it keeps ancient herbal allies flourishing at our side.
