Sheila, thanks for the Botanical Gardens clock garden pic. Just love it!
Martha
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 26
Hi guys and dudettes,
Some time back I've mentioned of a type of Cassia, winter cassia or 'Christmas Senna'. The plant took awhile before I ripped the rewards. After having waited for 2 years. I'm pleased to see it bloomed in our climate. In years past perhaps it bloomed but I missed out. But I caught on with it while it's in bloom this year. Late in the season, I don't know if the sulphurs will find them blossoms. But here they are. :-)
Kim
Pretty! Those blooms are worth the wait, I think. The cage probably could have been larger, Cat, although it's normally fine and I had enough things for them to perch on. Maybe one of those hamper cages would be better. But I released another one today that turned out perfect, as most are unless they have to stay a couple of extra days. I haven't found any more cats outside in quite a while, so guess the season's over for cats. Since the last freeze when it got down to 26°, there is hardly any flowers left anyway. Too many freeze-zapped plants in my yard, very depressing! Maybe if it stays fairly warm long enough, some plants will start blooming again...I hope!
My very 1st cat! Please help me ID it.
I found it while raking dead leaves under a Washington Hawthorne tree. The cat was buried in a wet pile of the dead leaves. He was very sluggish and I didn't know if he would live. The only other plants remotely nearby were a Sansanqua, Dianthus, and Rajun Cajun (Ruellia elegans). So I placed some Washington Hawthorne leaves, and Sasanqua, Dianthus, and Rajun Cajun leaves in a plastic container with the cat. (I don't yet have the bags and house that I ordered).
It does not look as if he has eaten, but I could be wrong. There is a small bit of frass in the bottom of the container. He is still alive, but still inactive.
I'll post two more views. Thanks.
Martha
Image #2.
Image #3
Ahh, I've checked out a book on caterpillars from the Library, Martha I'll search the text, and see if I'll find and I.D.the little one.
Kim
Hi Martha!
Your cat looks like a Spodoptera ....aka Armyworm Possibly Spodoptera ornithogalli or S. eridania They will vary in color in marking depending on the instar stage. In any case what you have there is a major defoliator, a moth, and non host specific, (they will eat practically any kind of foliage).
http://bugguide.net/node/view/31733
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=spodoptera&search=Search
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=spodoptera+ornithogalli
Your more desirable cats will be more host specific with a few exceptions being some Vanessa butterflies (Red Admiral & Painted Lady) and Sphinx moths (hornworms) which use a variety of host plants.
:-)
I don't know if I'd call a hornworm "desirable" but I'll leave that up to the gardener. Today I remembered to check my eggs and I have a zebra swallowtail cat! So many cats don't make it past the first instar so I'm trying not to get too attached, but he's so cute! I picked a leaf off my asimina parviflora and asimina reticulata so he's all alone with a huge buffet.
Love that butterfly made of pansies. I'll have to show Mom; she loves pansies. We actually just bought some the other day. I let her buy some this time of year and I plant them around the big oak tree by the front of our street so everyone can appreciate them. I read that the Variegated Fritillary uses violas as its host (as well as passiflora). Has anyone ever had Frit cats on the violas? I've never seen a Variegated Frit here, but maybe I can attract them!
Mellie, I'm glad to hear that Variegated Frit. will eat violas for I've planted a flat atop my bulbs bed this fall. Only our weather is much cooler here. Maybe in early spring. I'm hoping, yearning for spring. Also, the first frost got here a few days ago. All my passi. are dormant at this time. I still have two g.f chrysalises. It seems they will hibernate over winter. I hope they're doing ok?
Kim
This message was edited Dec 20, 2007 9:20 PM
Variegated Frits use nodding green violet (hybanthus verticillatus) as a larval host out here. It's a native plant for south Texas.
~ Cat
Debnes, thank you for the ID. I could find only one ID in all of my books -- The Princeton Field Guides of Caterpillars of Eastern North America, and there was the perfect ID in both discription and image. It is a Spodoptera frugiperda (Fall Armyworm). Yikes, I don't want that in my garden. It ate nearly every kind of plant I offered. Do the Hummingbird and Butterfly DGers consider it blasphemous for one of their members to annihilate a cat? LOL I feel so guilty!!!
Martha
Martha you crack me up! I usually throw unsavory cats in the street and let them get eaten by birds. I used to have a frisbee that I'd put icky criiters in, their round and round travels always drew the birds right in! Haven't quite built the nerve to just plain squish!
Cathy
Cathy, you are a riot! With a lump in my throat, I flushed it down the throne!
Martha
Oh my! You gave me a good belly laugh. I haven't done this, but I've a fish pond.....hint, hint. Rather than birds, how about fish?
Kim
Let the winged and gilled creatures have a snack too!
Kim, at some point a big bird, maybe a heron, took care of all the goldfish in the pond. He definitely hit the smorgasbord. We haven't put any back in yet. A friend suggested getting a heron statue, she has one that keeps her fish safe, so we are on the lookout!
Cathy
Cathy,
We've two Iron Aligators sitting on the Pond's border. That seem to deter the Herons, but I've seen Hawks perching right on the the bridge one day in early Fall. Well DH puts an end to that. He errected the net to cover the entire pond area (mostly to keep the fallen leaves out), only the Bullfrog has access to the pond at will. Luckily all the baby gold fish, as well as Baby Kois are accounted for. So thus far the Bullfrog is acceptable guest from time to time.
I'm missing my butterflies, I've a Christmas Senna that's in bloom, but no sulphurs sighted around lately. :((
Kim
Ya'll are hilarious!!! I either squish unwanted army worms under foot or toss them over the back fence. I haven't seen any butterflies around my yard lately as the weather has taken a slight turn towards cool. However, during the day when the sun is out (and I'm at work) I read our about sightings on our local butterfly list server. I wish I was retired :o)
~ Cat
Kim, the iron alligators sound really neat. I'll keep a lookout for some sort of statue type things to put near the little pond. The fishies were just the 10 cent goldfish you get at the pet store as feeder fish, but you do get attached to feeding them daily!
"I either squish unwanted army worms under foot or toss them over the back fence."
Cat, are you barefoot when you're "taking care of business" in the bf garden? hee hee
I'm always barefoot while gardening, guess I'll have to designate a brick for the job. ICK.
I plan on some garden time tomorrow afternoon, hopefully I can spot a bf or two and snap a few pics.
Cathy
Well, it was cool and cloudy here today so no butterflies. Mom saw a sulphur yesterday (probably Orange-Barred from the size - I've been seeing it, too). She also released another Zebra Swallowtail and saw a Gulf Frit. Oh, and I did see a Long-Tailed Skipper going back and forth between the plumbagos and the bougainvillea.
Martha, every spring we are inundated with tussock moth caterpillars coming out of our oak trees. I mean, it's like a Biblical plague around here. I used to spray, but now that I'm into butterfly gardening I just have to squish them. Luckily, I think a couple years of spraying diminshed their numbers. It used to look like it was raining caterpillars with them all falling out of the trees. Then, they build their cocoons on everything! Plus, they eat everything; I almost lost some of my plants to them. So never fear about destroying the enemy. Some people here don't mind the hornworms, but if one ate your datura to nothing in one night, you'd want him squished, too.
Melanie
Not me mel,
If a hornworm is brave enough to eat my datura or brug it would surely get a chance to fy. (I do love Sphinx Moths.) Armyworms on the other hand would not get half a chance.
Hummingbird Clearwing is a hornworm:
larvae: http://bugguide.net/node/view/30248
adult: http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=clearwing&search=Search
Tersa Sphinx is a hornworm: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1429/
I have raised them, They are awesome!
Tobacco Hormworms are great: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/5017/
Tomato Hornworms make beautiful moths too:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/210/
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=tomato+hornworm&search=Search
Potato Hornworms are amazing too (I've raised them too:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4685/:
Here is a page of Sphinx Moths which were Hornworms as babies:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=sphinx+moth&searcher%5Bbugorder%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&Search=Search
When you find them just cage them and dole out food so they don't devour your special plants.
The only cats that don't get a chance here are the webworms and super defoliators like them. :-)
The pic here below is from our thread on Tersa Sphinx Stages: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/769278/
Bottom line, Hornworms aka Hummingbird Moths are very desirable to me. :-) Incredible to raise.
:-)
I've grown brugs for the past few years but haven't seen any moth cats on it. I do find eaten leaves but no signs of frass. Either they are very good at camouflage or I need new glasses :o)
The Tersa Sphinx is such a sleek looking moth...love the way the wings look like layers of sand.
Thanks for the linking to the bug files on sphinx moths...I saw a couple that didn't have photos posted so I added some I had.
~ Cat
ps...I don't walk around the backyard barefooted...so there's no way I'd dare to squish an army worm without my shoes on. I also have small two dogs that zip in and out the doggy door to the back yard to do their business. No fun stepping in that!!! ROLF!!!
Barefoot gardening definitely has its hazards!
I wouldn't dare go barefoot. Last week I went hiking and had fire ants crawl up my leg and bite me. Not fun at all.
In other news, my Gulf Frit cat has decided to pupate. I've still got another small guy in the critter keeper. Oh, and sadly my Zebra ST cat didn't make it. I never did see him eat. Sometimes nature just works out that way; I was reading an article about these researchers who were breeding an endangered butterfly and they were even saying how there were many losses in the first instar. It made me feel better to know even scientists have the same problems.
Yikes, sorry to hear about the fire ants Mel! Those little buggers are the worst. We have used that once a year treatment 2 times, I think about 8 months apart and we don't have any in our yard, so it is safe in that regard. We have to treat again when the ants decide to move from the neighbors's yard. The other bane of my existence was sand spurs, so I started pulling htem out root and all, before I mowed, every time. Took about a year, but now they are gone.
I wa hoping for some pics yesterday, but the only bf I saw was some type of Sulphur, it was up high and so darn fast!
Debnes- is that your son, Ben, Friend of the Butterfly Kingdom? What a great pic.
Cat, thanks for the links on the big moths, they are beautiful to look at. I don't grow tomatoes often, so I'm not sure what else they might be munching on in my garden. I guess I'll have to be watching the brug cuttings I'm rooting?
Marry Christmas Eve to everyone!
Cathy
I had so many of those moths in my yard this year but I had no idea they were all Sphinx moths.
Nothing is allowed to eat my Brugs but I do move all horn worms to my Daturas. I cant wait to see them again next year!
Debnes, thank you for the hornworm pix. I just got a good education from them.
Cat, are you not defeating your purpose by throwing army worms over the fence? Might they fly right back into your yard next season and plant baby army worm eggs all over your garden!! LOL
Merry Christmas!
Martha
Well, first I have to announce some sad news. Mom went in her office today and there was a wasp flying around in one of my critter keepers. It had come out of one of the chrysalids. I was very sad, but killing the wasp made me feel better.
In happier news, I went hiking yesterday and saw a few butterflies. Here's a zebra longwing that stopped to bask for a minute.
I was in a different preserve than my usual one. There's a special spot in this preserve that's a cypress swamp full of native tillandsias (bromeliads) that I go check on every so often. There are also some Tampa Butterfly orchids growing on the trees that I check on as well. I usually don't see too many butterflies in there, but I did once see a zebra swallowtail puddling here. Here's what the area looks like. I'm standing in what is normally the creek, but the water levels are down this time of year.
On my way back, this White Peacock landed in the grass near me.
I hadn't had enough so I went to the small preserve near my house. I saw this small sulphur.
I like to check that preserve every now and then because there's a lady whose house borders the back and she grows red passiflora on her fence. It's died down quite a bit but I still feel the need to check it for caterpillars. I didn't find any, but I did make a new friend (that's a gopher tortoise).
I bought myself a few more butterfly books this week, and Mom got me some of the "Got Milkweed" stickers from www.monarchwatch.org
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
Melanie
Mel, sorry to hear about the wasp episode. Nice to hear of your hiking and beautiful pics, the gopher tortoise is adorably grouchy looking!
Cathy
Melanie, what a splendid day you had (excluding the wasp). Your butterfly pix are out of this world. The cypress swamp reminds me of a bayou across the road and pasture from my childhood home. It was appropriately named Marsh Bayou. Many fond memories there. It was filled with hundred-year-old cypress and replete with flora and fauna. You are fortunate to have this hidden expanse of swampland to meander around.
Martha
This message was edited Dec 25, 2007 8:10 PM
Martha, it's so funny you should say that. I don't usually go to that preserve because it has a large paved trail through it and I have to compete with numerous cyclists and rollerbladers. I walk along the side in the grass. The first time I went I was about to leave when I saw a little trail leading back into the woods. I followed it for less than 200 yards and it dead ends into that picture. On the other side of the park is the local Home Depot! It's weird walking back to the parking lot and hearing the traffic and the loading dock noise. In all fairness, Flatwoods Park (as it's called) is part of the Wilderness Preserve. There are other entrances you can go in that lead to more natural areas (where I have cyclists trying to kill me on trails wide enough for one person). My dad even went fishing at one of the connecting parks.
I love gopher tortoises! I found an orange laying on the ground so I picked it up and split it and then set it in front of his home. I've heard gopher tortoises eat pawpaws so when I'm out collecting zebra swallowtail caterpillars this spring I'll have to pick a few pawpaws and leave them near their burrows. The gopher tortoises have been abused for too long here; I figure I can spoil them a little. I also want to grow some gopher apples in my yard. The neighbors probably won't appreciate that, but oh well.
Melanie
What are gopher apples, Melanie?
Martha
Gopher Apple: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/68509/
Gopher tortoises like to eat them. They're a native plant and I love native plants. Gotta feed the caterpillars, the gopher tortoises, etc. Plus, the little guys are threatened now, I believe. Unfortunately, they like the same kind of habitat as developers. There used to be a law where developers could literally pave over them and pay a fee. The tortoises couldn't dig their way out and would suffocate to death (they said it could even take months for them to die). The press really brought it to light this year and there was much outrage (never did see those PETA folks, though). Now, the developers have to relocate the tortoises, and there are even volunteer groups that will help them do it.
I saw a news video a couple of weeks ago about some scientists who are basically doing for the gopher tortoise what we do for butterflies. They raise them for about a year, until their shell is hard and they're big enough not to be eaten by other animals. Then, they introduce them into the wild. The little ones were so cute! Why wasn't science ever this fun in school?
Melanie
Melanie, the gopher apple is pretty. The leaves resemble Magnolia foliage. It seems just about everything in nature is becoming extinct these days. We are taking over earth. Poor little gopher turtles. How could anyone be so cruel.
Science was fun in school (for me, anyway). I even decided to minor in biology. Good teachers. Are you thinking about raising turtles, Melanie! LOL
Martha
Well, they're a protected species so I can't actually "raise" them. Plus, the neighbor behind us (who has 9.5 acres) relocates all the gopher tortoises he finds to some land he has in a rural part of the county. The law says you're not supposed to mess with them unless you're moving them out of the road (which happens a lot in the spring). Still, I find too many that have been hit by cars.
Another good thing my county does is prescribed burns. I didn't realize just how important it is. Certain pine trees need the heat from a fire to release their seeds. Then, I learned that the gophers need a periodic clean-up of their territory. Apparently, they need lots of open area to roam and bask in the sun to warm themselves (much like butterflies). Also, the fires clear out a lot of the woody shrubs they can't eat and exposes and rejuvenates the grasses and more tender plants they do eat.
I just find it so interesting how everything is dependent on each other. It still amazes me how animals and plants evolved and adapted to each other. I got a new book called Florida Caterpillars and Their Host Plants (or something like that) and it's really interesting. I'm already thinking about which plants to add this year!
Melanie
Melanie, bet I just bought the same book. Is it "Florida Butterly Caterpillars and Their Host Plants," by Minno, Butler, and Hall? I like the fact that it identifies host plants with each caterpillar it identifies. Very organized and readable.
You know, Melanie, I'm so glad to meet you. We seem to be on the same channel. I often think about the symbiosis of so many creatures of nature. I have read about forest fire management too, but I never knew it benefited the gopher turtle.
Have you ever read Irving Stone's book, "The Origin: A Biographical Novel of Charles Darwin"? It's quite a read, and it's one of the things that long ago got me thinking about how vital evolution and adaptation are. I've never read the actual "Origin of the Species" by Darwin himself. It's a little bit too deep for me. Stone's book details Darwin's seagoing travels in the in a way that involves the reader. I felt I was actually with Darwin in the Archipeligos.
We must talk some more. I am new at cameras and butterfly identification. I'll have lots of questions for you.
Martha