This is a butterfly bush.Paula and I plant them because they are lovely.
And because they attract lots of butterflies.
Hence the name.
Of course the butterflies attract scads of praying mantises, which look exactly like butterfly bush stems.
The praying mantises like to eat the butterflies.
Crows love to eat praying mantises. Especially the ones fattened by the butterflies we attract.
Teenagers in the area like to shoot crows.
And when I get my hands on those teenagers ...
Thus, we come full circle.
A parable.
