Here's my bumper crop of Monarchs last fall. It was a bit overwhelming, I ran out of milkweed and couldn't find any to buy so Paige (Konkreteblond) was so kind to send me some. I was able to get them all fed and released by November, it was amazing, I had about 90.
Leslie - I am the "Queen of Gardening Mistakes" and I doubt anyone will ever be able to top my mistakes to take that title away from me! (Not kidding!)
I planted 10 .... yes! TEN maypop vines along the right side fence in my backyard! I would imagine that they could become invasive given the right conditions. My only concern is if they put out root runners into my neighbor's yard. Then I will have to take some serious action!!! I just prune them back when they get this wild. (See my photo attached that was taken this morning along a 6' high fence.) Normally the cats would chew them up and keep them under control, but no cats here at all!!
I would really love them if they would bloom!!! But again .... NO BLOOMS either!!! arghhhhhhhhh! So the honeymoon phase with these vines is quickly coming to an end! We'll see what happens this Fall/Winter......
This message was edited Sep 1, 2007 11:08 AM
Rox - What a great photo!!!! Love it! :-) :-) :-)
Wow Becky, those are huge, I can't believe they won't bloom! And no cats?
My 2 Passies are in pots and bloom but the foliage is scraggly and no cats. The funny thing is I have seen GFs go back there and just ignore those Passies.
I know the feeling...my 2 big Esperanzas won't bloom either...they need some serious counseling! lol
Finally, my Pride of Barbados bloomed, first time this year, love those plants!
A funny thing happened today....my DH was driving my car doing some errands and he saw something flying around in the back. He stopped and it was a beautiful Monarch. She must have crawled or fell off of a mw plant I had bought and went ahead and pupated. I can't find the chrysalis anywhere, it may be under the seat. I couldn't get a pic, as soon as I opened the back hatch, she flew out, probably very glad to get out of a car!
I have the Incense passie for frequent large blooms....it's great for that. The P. caerulea also blooms pretty good. The cats are there on the Incense also, but they use it less than the other passies. Funny thing...the Incense has spread and one part is climbing up a native sumac bush and a tree. I saw a GF today over there and it looked like it wasn't laying the eggs on the passie. I looked and sure enough, one egg I spotted was on the sumac. Guess the cat would have to crawl over to the Incense vine after it hatches. Guess that's better than the eggs I find on my fence where no touching vine is at all near enough for a tiny cat to get to it. My native Maypop (P. incarnata) does bloom but rarely. Don't know if it's because the cats keep it eaten back or what. The vines never seem to get real long like my other passies do. But the VF can use it along with the GF, so it's more valuable in that way. That year I had ZL cats they used it also.
Reminds me of something that happened to becky last fall roxie, rofl Remember her son rushing in to tell her about the butterflies in the van? lol! That's weird the passionflowers aren't blooming becky, Are they in full sun?
Good to hear Linda~ You've had success with ZLW on that PV too? I want a side by side comparison with it if y'all don't mind> Does this look like a caerulea? in any way? That's what the label said.
Yes! Sounds like what happened to me when my son saw a Monarch trying to get out the back window in my van. It had morphed under the back seat of my van.
Deb - The Maypop vines are in full sun and I have no idea why they are not blooming. I wonder if they are seasonal bloomers?
I have a huge Esperanza that will not bloom either. It grows about 10 feet tall. I asked at the nursery and they said to cut it back. I thought that was a good idea since all of the ones in the nursery were blooming and they were all small. I have cut it back twice and it is still not blooming. Mine does usually wait until about September I think and then blooms like crazy until Winter but I don't know why it waits so long.
And Becky, even if it is not blooming your vine is beautiful, just beautiful. So my three plants hopefully will not be a problem if you have 10. I will just need to watch and keep them cut back, if they ever get that far.
Sorry I don't have a picture of a cat but those Monarchs are awesome. However, I would feel a tad bit overwhelmed to have that many at one time. You did a great job.
Leslie
Becky, That would make sense for PV to experience some down time from blooming since they don't die back there.
The 4 cloudless sulphur cats in this container morphed yesterday. Some eggs have just hatched too. You were so right Becky, the sulphurs are the easiest to raise.
deb
Was listening to the garden show on our local talk radio station on the way to the ranch yesterday morning. Lots of people had called in to say their plants and trees weren't blooming. The problem was narrowed down to this being a year of less sunshine and insufficient pollination. Says we haven't been seeing as many bees this year either. Seems we've had too many shady days this year and due to the constant scare of killer bees even the good ones are being killed off.
Now considering I live in the deep south tip of Texas and we've had some horridly hot and humid summer days...I'm thinking this guy is nuts. Then I got to thinking this year hasn't been as bad as last year...so maybe what he's saying is right (uhm, guess I should keep in mind he's the one with the garden show afterall...ROLF!) Lots of my plants haven't bloomed or if they do bloom they have not set down much seed...and come to think of it...I haven't seen bees in abundance. Lots of the grain, cotton, sugar cane, sorgum and sunflower fields around the lower Rio Grande Valley have been cleared off to make way for more subdivisions!
~ Cat
ps...the radio guy did mention using superthrive. Said it's in a cheesy bottle but the stuff really works. Cheesy = low advertisement quality labeling.
Sounds like something to try, I'll look for it.
I have actually had lots of different kinds of bees here every day.. I was glad to see them given the news of their low count. I'll send them down there..
:-)
I have lots of bees too. An overabundance of the carpenter kind. I'll gladly send them on their way to anywhere but here.
I'm just glad they're not killer bees, yikes! They don't bother me at all.. Seem to gt along well with everybody else..
Here is one of the Sulphurs that eclosed this weekend, 3 yesterday and 1 today. He is sharing with a bee...:-)
There is a nationwide bee problem - bee colony collapse disorder. Tupelo, MS is one of the few parts of the nation not affected. We will be lucky if vegetable and fruit prices don't go through the roof. Just "Google" the above noted disorder.
Rod
Deb, love the Sulphur chrysalids!
Cat, good speculation on the unblooming plants, I figured I just haven't fertilized enough.
Here's a good thread on the bee situation:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/735918/
I wonder if the bee CCD can be partially contributed to pesticides.
90 monarchs...that is AMAZING!!! Here I thought I had a good year hand-raising 30 monarchs :-) Way to go!
Fly...that is an amazing number of monarchs!!! You need to stick in a bonsai tree or some kind of decoration like Robin did to make another Chrysalis tree :o)
~ Cat
Deb, darling little butterfly.
No bee shortage here either. I could not keep them off one of my hummer feeders and everytime I went near it they buzzed me. I am terrified of them. I know they are great for the garden but they scare me. I finally took that feeder down and left the hummzinger up. They cannot get to that. I hope they are not the "killer bees". I don't think so but I don't know what a carpenter bee looks like or does. Anyway, they seem to like my yard for some reason. I will gladly leave them alone if they do the same for me.
Leslie
Haha, it was really very overwhelming. I was afraid it was going to get cold before they all eclosed. Whenever a cool front came in they became real active, climbing all over the cage, acting like they were going to pupate, somewhat distressed acting. And that would stress me out, thinking they must know something about the weather that I don't. Eventually I just had to let them do what they need to do and hope for the best. I only lost about 5, it was pretty incredible.
Very incredible Rox:-)
Here's my GST cat preparing to pupate. He was like this for about 2 days then crawled up to the top of the cage and pupated. It's surprising how small the cats and chrysalids are compared to the adult butterfly.
Found this beautiful Tersa Sphinx on my plants, I think he was the one that devoured my Pentas....he wouldn't look at me...too guilty.
Sweet Roxanne~
Gorgeous shot of Tersa..The body looks like teak wood, wow!
I just hope mine ecloses cooperativly. I expect it will eclose at about midnight of the day the chrysalid darkens. I don't want it to be trapped inside the small cage all night , so I might open the small q&e cage and set it inside the big hamper.
You probably hosted that one hidden in your pentas..
Tersa cats definitely LOVE eating Penta leaves. That's what the one I raised feasted on! So glad to hear ya all are getting them too! They are some cool looking cats and moths! Love em!
I hate to bump my own thread back up, but....I wanted to show you my Luna cat's little feet, they are so cute!
He can really grab too, I had to move him once and couldn't hardly get him off my finger.
Here he is at 23 days old. He's still munching away, I'm thinking any day now he should pupate.
Oh I love those Tersas too Becky..
Roxanne! What a cutie dumplin that Luna is with it's little grabber feet! (It looks like spinach gnocchi, lol.)
I was going to bump this thread if you didn't, lol. Is there a rule on that or something?
I wanted to share my 3rd group of Sulphur cats.. The second pupated last weekend. These will probably this weekend. then I have some 1/2 inchers. Making 4 groups.. and more coming.
These are on C privet.. and groups 1,2 & 4 on C alata
Those sulphurs look huge deb. Are they that big or is the plant just small?
Leslie
Smaller cassia. ;-). There were several females on both Cassias yesterday.. Here is a pic to tell th size of it.
Yeah Deb, he's got some claspers!
Love the little Sulphurs, maybe next year I'll get some on my Cassia.
I bet you will Rox. I was so determined I planted a few different cassias. Guess it worked!
