Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 37, 0 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Cat, I'm glad you got to see one of our Palamedes. I haven't seen too many of them since last fall when there were a ton. There are plenty of dragonflies right now; I was talking to my Dad about how many there were in our yard while I was out watering. They also seem to like the plumbagos.

In sad news, I caught one of my Zebra ST cats eating another one. They're bad to do that. In happier news, the Polydamas cats are doing well. I went and got a different kind of pipevine (pretty sure it's a. trilobata). I've provided them with that and the a. tomentosa so we'll see what happens. The nursery where I bought it also had a. gigantea, which I have mentioned is the kind my cats keep dying on. One reason I went with the a. trilobata is that I've seen fifth instar cats eating theirs at the nursery, and even the one I bought came with a couple of caterpillars on it. So it looks like they will survive on this kind. The guy at the nursery said he had been watching several clutches but that he thinks the wasps are getting the caterpillars because they've been disappearing.

Not that I'm any kind of scientist, but one thing I noticed is that the a. gigantea smelled a lot worse than the other two. I can't help but wonder if that is an indication it has a higher level of toxins in it and that is what was killing my caterpillars. Something to ponder...anyway, here's a few of the cats that came free with my plant.