A gardener discovered a beautiful butterfly while taking their dog out and decided to share a picture of the creature with the world.
The person posted the photos on the Reddit community r/gardening, which now has an impressive 5.6 million members and continues to grow.
"Anyone know what kind of butterfly?" the Redditor asked the community.
The picture shows a butterfly with its wings spread out on top of a purple flower. The butterfly's wings are mostly white with some blue shades along the bottom edge and blackish gray along the other edges.
Although the Redditor doesn't specify if this is their yard or someone else's, it appears to be an area with traditional grass and some flowers.
It is better to have a natural yard with native plants and trees as opposed to a traditional grass lawn for numerous reasons.
For one, grass lawns require lots of water.
In the U.S., grass lawns use up to 300 trillion gallons of water each year and require more fertilizers and pesticides to stay nice and green than natural lawns, and it's no secret that these chemicals can be quite harmful.
Meanwhile, having a yard with native plants and flowers helps suck up some of the planet-warming pollutants our industrial activities keep pumping into the air, while also benefiting the soil and harboring more biodiversity, which means attracting fauna like the beautiful butterfly mentioned above.
Commenters were at no loss of words.
"That is a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail," one commenter wrote, answering the question from the original poster.
"Thanks! She's so pretty," the OP graciously replied.
One person admitted, "I've never seen one like this."
"Gorgeous. I'm from Chicago but currently live in the state to the east of you. Can't wait to see one!" another person expressed.
Join our free newsletter for cool news and cool tips that make it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
