Ahhh...spring. Even if it's a little "different" in Florida, it's still spring! I was heading to Walgreens yesterday and a man was taking out his garbage cans. He started jogging over to the road and I saw a turtle (not a gopher tortoise this time) in the opposite lane. He scooped it up and helped it on its way. One reason I love Florida. I once saw all four lanes of northbound traffic stop on Dale Mabry Hwy so someone could rescue a gopher tortoise. And not one single person honked! I love it here. Just remember if you help a tortoise or turtle to carry them the same way they were going because they have a great sense of direction and will turn around and try again. Also, wash your hands because they can carry salmonella.
Ann, I have total bulb envy. I had never visited my grandma in WV other than in the summer (usually August) up until a few years back. We went in May one year and as we were driving in I was so glad I wasn't the one driving. Reason one: mountain roads. Nuff said. But reason two is that everyone's irises were blooming and I couldn't stop staring out of the car! I do genealogy and when I'm up in WV I visit a lot of the family cemeteries. I like how up there people plant bulbs in the cemeteries, often right on the graves. Since a lot of bulbs come back year after year and spread, it's sort of like an eternal reminder of our loved ones.
Oh, and both of Ann's lizards are native anoles. They can be brown or green. The Cuban ones are always brown and are stockier than the native ones. That's great that you have the native ones! I've been seeing more since I started my Cuban Tree Frog Eradication Program. Dad got me my own whacking board and everything. I don't actually like killing small animals, but otherwise they eat our native frogs and lizards and such. And I just can't have that. Plus, they live in my bromeliads and I am not planting those to provide condos for non-native species!
The driveway into MOSI is lined with Redbud trees and they are pretty amazing. In our Historic Tree Grove we have a Redbud dedicated to Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross. We planted medicinal plants around it and have artwork by a local artist. You can read about it here:
http://www.mosi.org/what-to-do...
@drdawg Ken asked me what I know about moths on the old thread, but since I'm done looking at that, I'm going to answer over here. We do raise some moths at MOSI. Sometimes because we're bored and don't have a lot going on (Oleander Moths) and sometimes because we get some super awesome caterpillars. This year we raised Hickory Horned Devils (Regal Moths) and Imperial Moths. Both are in their pupae and have been for several months now. They actually pupate under the soil so we have them in a mesh pop-up container with a tray of soil in it for them. We also provided sticks for them to emerge onto, whenever they decide to do that. There are way more moths than butterflies in the world. And moths are believed to have evolved first with butterflies branching off later. Moth caterpillars are the ones that are most likely to sting you; I don't know of any butterfly caterpillars in Florida that will do so. Last year, the press got all excited about Flannel Moths and I had to hear about it from all the visitors to MOSI. I've never seen one in my life, but I did have a lady show me a picture of one on her phone. It was on her garbage can. Another one that can sting is the Io Moth, but I've raised that at home and at MOSI. You just don't touch them! I've also raised some of the Sphinx Moths. The Tersa Sphinx Moth uses pentas as its host plant so I find them sometimes when I'm weeding. I found a Pluto Sphinx Moth last year but he died.
Once in WV, there were these caterpillars absolutely stripping the Catalpa trees. I picked one up off the ground and brought it to Grandma's where I placed it in a critter keeper (yes, I bring them with me on vacation in case I find something cool). Grandma wanted to know what I was doing "with that ol' Catalpa worm". Naturally, I had my butterflies of WV book so I showed her that it was a caterpillar (NOT a worm!) and would turn into a Catalpa Sphinx Moth. She literally had no idea those things became moths. I hear they're good fish bait; there used to be a whole industry of people raising them to sell as bait.
Here's a picture of the Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar on my arm. I posted this on Facebook and scared all my friends. They look wicked scary but they are safe to touch. Only one person besides me wanted to hold it, for some reason.
And that was my friend Dominic who is 13 and has been visiting me at MOSI for years now.
And here's a picture I took today of some urban wildlife. This was at Steak 'N Shake after the movie. I got a bird and a raccoon!
Tara, best wishes on your surgery! I've only had one surgery in my life, to take my gall bladder out, and I was terrified but also in so much pain I just wanted the darn thing out! Luckily, it went just fine. I'm sure yours will, too!
