Well, this really wasn't quite what I was intending...

[Penellype]

I recently had to have a diseased flowering cherry cut down, leaving my front garden rather bare. I decided to replace it by planting a shrub in a large pot in the cantre of the lawn. The choice was between a Japanese maple, but I already have 3 of those in the back garden, or a buddleia. I chose the dwarf buddleia "Blue Chip" which is suitable for a pot and doesn't seed itself everywhere. I hoped to have a garden full of butterflies, preferably coloured ones.

Those of you who have read some of my other posts will know that I have been plagued with caterpillars this year, in particular one called cabbage looper, which has completely defoliated my carrots and is doing the same to the rhubarb. Maybe planting a butterfly bush wasn't quite the most sensible option. When I went outside this morning to look at the large number of "butterflies" I could see flying around the buddleia it soon became clear these were in fact moths.

A quick google of brown moth, daytime came up with several options including the Silver Y moth which is quite clearly the one I have. Guess what... its a close relative of the cabbage looper, and the Wikipedia page shows a caterpillar eating a carrot leaf.

I now have a difficult decision to make - do I leave these rather pretty brown moths to feed on my buddleia, or do I go out there and kill them because they are such a pest?

[mothhawk]

Keep the moths - cover the veg

[ancee]

Is it because the moths are a bit boring and not as flashy as their colourful cousins? I agree with Mothawk, just cover the veg, or grow stuff they don't like to eat! It is annoying though when you decide to grow stuff for yourself, and something thinks you've supplied it for them! My daughter loves butterflies and hates moths (I think she's a moth-ist!)

[rustylady]

You should cover your veg anyway, not just because of caterpillars - there's also carrot fly.

[dogsbody]

Ditto (enough said)

BTW is the buddleia a good one? (bit of a fan you see, I have 8 and counting as they do self seed)

[Penellype]

I did decide to keep the moths, and I've bought some veggiemesh for next year's veg. The buddleia is doing nicely and is still covered in flowers. I understand from googling it that buddleia "Blue Chip" does not self seed, which is one of the reasons I chose it. It is not supposed to grow more than about 3ft high.

[Two_Sheds]

I know that the wild purple buddleja does self-seed, it just never has in my gardens. Oh, I tell a lie, we did have one growing 2ft under ground in a drain, at school.