Catmint when I first read about that plant I found it interesting also


Melanie , I enjoyed your story of living and family , I guess my cane or staff story had a lot of seeing (insight) of the folks , relative to us all i Guess , interesting the meaning of some things so simple
flaflwrgrl , See ,, some advice isn't as bad or as silly as it seems once i a while , But it sure is difficult to tell when sometimes

I've one PawPaw fruit left...I think I'll go finish it off now...

jimard8 said:
About Five years ago a Raccoon came running out of the Garage and attacked me
Snapping and hissing at my feet and ankles , doing the wildcat rolls and things trying to get a hold of me , I had a defense staff , in my hand at the time to tap on the ground between those teeth and my feet and legs ,, Funny now ,, but not then ,
Rubber moves with the legs , use of the staff ,, and : : Your never to old to dance "

Maybe too old to dance WELL, but not too old to dance the self preservation dance!!!
Mama protecting babies or rabid?

DavidLMO said:

In your zone, you are going to have to start them (Gomphocarpus fruticosus (Swan Plant) indoors in winter to see a bloom. Either that or over winter the plants indoors.

I was wondering about that, so thanks!
I have several things in pots I bring in for winter so it'll be easy.

crittergarden That particular day and raccoon was looking for food, Every few years we get baby Raccoons walking on the porch and around the drive .

Neighbors had been feeding them , I think it was a strange form of asking me for food ,

Well, I had to go pick willow for my little Viceroy and pick up my glasses - now with scratch free lenses! I noticed earlier that the area where I pick the willow has a lot of White Peacocks flying around so I took a look at what was growing. There was Frogfruit, which is a host plant. The willow is growing in a ditch with standing water so I thought there might be some Bacopa which is also a host plant. I saw a little bit that looked like it, but I'm not sure. It's been so long since I've seen any. There were also some (evil, invasive) Mexican Petunias, but White Peacocks eat things in the Ruellia genus so what can you do? Feed your caterpillar the native Carolina Petunia like I'm doing. Only the best for my caterpillars.

So here's some White Peacocks I saw.



I took these next two photos in succession, and while the first is clearer, the second is truer in actual color. White Peacocks have a lovely blue on them that often gets washed out by the sunlight. Also, it has another bug friend!



I spotted a Barred Sulphur in its white form. Seen quite a few of them this year.



Back home, it was time to release another Phaon Crescent.



I cleaned the Phaon Crescent tank which induced lots of sneezing. But here's a few caterpillars. There's actually four in there, but you can pretty much only see the two big ones.



I saw two Cloudless Sulphurs today but couldn't get pictures. One was flying all over my yard and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was doing. I got bored chasing it when I saw this Zebra Longwing on my Mexican Flame Vine. That's my Senna in the background...and the invasive Skunk Vine sneaking up the left side.



This Cassius Blue was literally all up in my Jatropha.



Some of you might remember me complaining about Dad massacring (aka "trimming") some of my plants a couple of weeks ago. Well, the Firebush is already sprouting like crazy because that's what it does. But I did uncover something worthwhile. There's a volunteer Corkystem Passion Vine coming up. Looks like I'm going to need another trellis. Time to go shopping!

1st Monarch of my current brood eclosed this afternoon. Took her out and she sat on my finger briefly and then was off!! Looks like a couple more will follow soon. Fingers crossed for good weather for them!

BST count has gone up to 12, after being 11 for a week or so. Right now I have 7 chrysalises, 4 instar 3s, and one instar 4!

I forgot to mention when I was cleaning the Phaon Crescent tank, I found some kind of looper caterpillar. That means it's a moth. It wasn't eating the Frogfruit leaf I gave it, so I went out and foraged to see if it would eat something. And it likes grass. After following a hunch, I think I may be raising an Armyworm. But if it is, it's not like the ones I usually find. They're usually black and red. I was trying to figure out if it was actually eating the grass since it was taking such tiny, microscopic bites. And then I thought, "Wait! I have a microscope!" So I took some pictures and you can see that he is clearly enjoying the grass.

And if he grows up and I'm sure he's an Armyworm, I'm like, "So what?" It's not like there isn't plenty of grass for it to eat. And who gets to decide what's "good" or "bad", anyway? We don't have nearly as much info about moths as we do butterflies; check BAMONA and see how many blanks there are in the moth entries. So maybe I'll learn something by raising this guy. Frankly, I'm curious to see if he grows up to be the same kind of looper I found when I was picking the Frogfruit. BAMONA hasn't identified it for me yet. Without further words from me, here's some pictures!

Good for you Melanie, giving the homely little looper a chance to make it to BAMONA. It's good to learn new things.

Pupa on the east side of the house, a little dark. Can you tell what kind?

Wildflowers That pupa looks like a Red Admiral , But I am not good with photo ID There are several that look like that ,

Melanie , that looper does not look segmented enough to be an Armyworm ,That is why they Call them Armyworms they look like their Armored , besides that they over run everything


Enjoying the Photo's

No idea, Christine. Bring it in and find out!

Jim, whatever my little friend becomes, I will find him interesting.

FYI, all my "mystery cats" that I found on the Desmodium emerged as those Plume Moths. Odd that I've never encountered them before because I've certainly picked my share of Desmodium. I had hoped they were a butterfly, but that's okay. I had never even heard of a Plume Moth before so I learned something new!

I'm watching the Gators (football, not the animal) but I saw something out of the corner of my eye. One of my Long-Tailed Skippers had just made its chrysalis! You see, when I was feeding everyone earlier, I knew some of the Skippers had to have pupated but I couldn't see them through their elaborate leaf shelters. I started peeling the leaves back and found two chrysalises and two caterpillars that were about to pupate. I moved them all to the pupation chamber (aka the Critter Keeper with all the chrysalises in it). I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen a Long-Tailed Skipper pupate. They always do it with the leaves around them so I've never seen it (that I can remember). So I was somewhat surprised to see the green color of the chrysalis. Check it out. FYI, that's the head capsule and shed skin at the bottom.



You see, normally their chrysalis is brown. I suppose that one will look that way after it hardens up. They also have this powdery substance on them. I was reading something a few weeks ago about another caterpillar and I read something about how that might be a substance that helps keep moisture in or something. I need to go figure out where I read that. Anyway, this is what Long-Tailed Skipper chrysalises normally look like (when you peel back the leaves).



While I was taking chrysalis pictures, I got out the Viceroy that pupated the other day. I know I sound like a broken record, but they look exactly like the Red-Spotted Purple chrysalis. It's so weird that two butterflies that look alike as eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalises emerge to be so different. Although, if you really look at them, they're more similar than you'd think at first glance. I like the weird "knob" thing on the chrysalis. I have no idea what function it serves or if it's trying to look like something in particular. But I still think it's cool. Oh, and you can see its head capsule (with antlers) and shed skin at the top in the silk.

There's garlic on the banner. Is that part of Fall Harvested Vegetables celebration week or are we getting an early start on Halloween?

maybe both.

Very pretty green chrysalis. Interesting how different it looks than the usual brown dusty one. Its special.

mellielong said:
Well, the Firebush is already sprouting like crazy because that's what it does.]

@mellielong

I have a chance to buy a mature Firebush in a 3 gal container for $6 on clearance. I would have to lug it in and out and wife will KILL me. :-)

Is it worth it? Pretty? Host or nectar source for BFs in my Zone 5 - NW Missouri?

thanks
david

The firebush, as far as I know, is only a nectar source David.

It is a host to some moths, like the Pluto Sphinx Moth. And hummingbirds love it. But does it even grow that far north? Just to be clear, I am referring to the plant Firebush (Hamelia patens)

mellielong said:

This is what it reminded me of:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/...

crittergarden said:

This is what it reminded me of:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/...

Wow, so it's a Goddess. Appropriate.