The obelisk trellises are made from galvanized steel livestock panel fencing sheets.
Deb...toss some of those buddleia seeds this way if you think they will grow here???
We finally got the windmill up and running again and the pond is slowing getting filled with water. Lot of it is being sucked up into the ground as it has been sooo dry - hopefully in a few weeks' time the clay within the soil will have formed a seal and the pond will fill up!!!
Will have to try to sow some citrus seeds. Got a ruby red grapefruit, tangerine and navel orange in my back yard...also have mexican lime and valley lemon back at the ranch as well as the usual citrus trees.
Have been wanting to sow prickly lime ash seeds but those shrubs have vicious thorns.
Too funny Mellie - those GFs will keep you busy all year long for sure!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 27
Great to hear about the windmill and the pond Cat...A little oasis always attracts the wildlife!
I will send you some Bud. seeds, worth a try!! I would say to direct sow them on the east side of a house or fence to keep them out of the harsh afternoon sun. If sown there now, they just might make it to bloom by.. say.. late May or June. The ones that did best here were behind a fence from the evening sun, but in full sun all day.
Yep citrus will germinate easier than most people think, just don't give up on them if you live in a cooler climate, put them in a warm place. In warm climate there should be no trouble at all. When most ppl think of sowing citrus they think of them being able to produce fruit. While that is the ultimate, WE grow many plants for larval food.. What we want is tender leaves to feed the GST..etc.. cats.. Plant a bunch of them now and keep in pots. You will like what you get!
I love the thorns Cat, lol. Got any extra seeds of the Zanthox??
Congrats on the new laptop Mel!! I love mine, being able to go outside with the wireless net and all!!
Very Happy 4 U!!!
Ooohh, I'm so glad I rescued that little calamondin from the clearance section at Lowe's! I would love to see some GST babies eating away on it. Also picked up a variegated lemon, because the leaves were so pretty, but I'd be happy to share those too!
A question: I've been growing and sowing lots of A. currassavica, and with less sucess, A. tuberosa, and wondered about some of the other Asclepias. Should I concentrate on just these two species since they do so well/are native? Or could I try some others, or would that mess with the Monarch cats? I thougt I read somewhere that it might be detrimental to the cats if they are eating non-native food- maybe I dreamed it? I don't want to jeopardize the lives of those bfs! What about other plants in the Asclepiadaceae family?
Thank you! Cathy
I think the only problem comes with use of milkweed species found on the west coast and not found in the rest of the country, used only by the west coast Monarchs. The Monarchs that either go to Mexico or to southern Florida in winter should be fine with any milkweed that grows along the migration paths that they follow, although I've noticed some prefer one milkweed over another.
Cathy, you may also be thinking of passifloras. Some people report that Gulf Frits and Zebra Longwings don't thrive on some of the non-native species or hybrids, particularly the red-flowered ones.
I have an ear infection so I didn't get out much today. I did go to the doctor and get some antibiotics. On the way home I saw two sulphurs - one looked like the usual Cloudless, but the other was a little bigger and more orange. Meanwhile, my Gulf Frit cats are still eating a tremendous amount of food. One of them molted today and it was so cute and orange. That's the report today from Tampa!
Melanie
Cool, thanks Linda & Mel.
And Mel, I think you're right about the passies. So many plants, so few brain cells...
Hope your ear feels better!
Night all, Cathy
Hey guys, check out this very interesting thread from the Florida Gardening forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/803746/
That was amazing, wasn't it mel? Art sure was paying close attention to catch that happening. : )
There's a bf & hb seed swap just getting started, if anyone's interested:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/805027/
Well it's cool and rainy here and it's supposed to stay that way until Wednesday. No butterflies, but I found yet another Gulf Frit cat. One of my Gulf Frits is acting funny. He seems to have shrunk and he was curled up in the corner for quite some time. I picked him up and he had silk stuck all over his legs. Not to get too graphic, but I think his anal proleg seemed to be stuck together. I tried to pick the silk off of him and free up his legs and now he's sitting on a new leaf of food I put in there for him.
I'm trading some bromeliads with some other DGers so I was walking around the bromeliad garden when I noticed something odd. One of my tillandsias (the family that includes Spanish moss and ball moss) had some little eggs on it. Naturally, I picked the leaf they were on, brought them in, and placed them in a Gladware container. The tillandsia is attached to the trunk of a small oak tree. Tell me if these eggs look familiar and let's all hope nothing horrible emerges from them!
Melanie
Debnes...am going to try to harvest seeds from colima - wild prickly lime ash - to see if I can get them to grow. Will keep you in mind if I do.
Mellie...no idea what those are...do keep us posted. Can't think of any butterfly or moth that uses plants from the moss family as a larval host. Haven't done an internet search though...
~ Cat
Cat,
I'm hoping it was aiming for the oak tree and got confused. I keep joking that something horrible is going to come out. I guess if it does I'll just squish it. I'll keep you posted though!
Melanie
Melanie - It looks like Ladybug eggs to me. See this link: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/ladybintro.html
If so, YOU WANT THEM IN YOUR YARD, of course! lol
Ooh, I hope that's what they are. I got to thinking about why something would lay eggs on a tillandsia and then I got all panicked thinking about the evil Mexican Bromeliad weevil. But I looked up info on it and I'm pretty sure that's not it. I wonder what I'm doing to attract the ladybugs? I've definitely slacked on the pesticide, although I never used very much to begin with anyway. It's funny, I'm used to seeing ladybugs once in a great while and then just one at a time. I never realized they have swarms of them up north until I went to college in Philadelphia and had thousands of them crawling up my dorm windows.
Melanie
Oh yeah mel! That is why we always check before we squish!! Congrats!! Lady bug babies!!
Thanks for the link to the swap Cathy, let me know how it turns out! I am spreading myself kinda thin these days.
Thanks for keeping me in mind for the YMG and Ash Cat!
By the way, I have an article in the DG articles today about Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Posting any response is a good way to show non-subscribers what we are about.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/609/
debnes
another...
One more of the hummersized winter visitor.. My daughter says they are like a little feather ball with legs, LOL!
Deb - Too cute! So this bird is as small as a hummer? I haven't ever seen one here.
Yes Becky, relatively closest in size to RT Hummer.
Since they do go down as far as Cuba and Mexico, they certainly have to go through FL to get there.. Also because they winter here, they would likely winter there too.
It's just that they are so unobtrusive that many people don't even notice them unless they know to look.
I'm really hoping you'll see them this year Becky!
Here they don't come down from the treetops unless there is a suet feeder. I see them hanging upside down from tree limbs looking for insects. Like Deb said they are very active and don't stay still.
Well, I went to my favorite preserve but there wasn't too much going on. The pawpaws are pretty much bare so no Zebra Swallowtails. They should flower next month and then leaf out, so hopefully the butterflies will return then. I saw a Hairstreak, but it flew away too fast for me. I did manage to get this little skipper (not the best pic but he was fast).
In the backyard I saw this tiny sulphur. To my great surprise - I think I also saw a swallowtail! We were leaving to go eat lunch and Dad opened the door just as a big butterfly flew by. It was yellow and black, but it was too large to be a zebra longwing, and it wasn't flying like one. If I had to guess, I would say it was a Polydamas, but it could have been a Palamedes. It just surprised me so much to see a Swallowtail. I tried following it but it flew to my neighbor's house. I'll keep my eyes peeled!
Melanie
Thanks for sharing the pictures of the Dainty Sulphur and the Skipper...
Do you grow plants for Eastern Black ST? There are so many they use...
I don't intentionally plant for the EBST, but I have some seeds I need to start. So many plants, so little space. In good news, my ladybug eggs hatched and I put them outside where I found them. I went to check them out this afternoon, but I couldn't find them. I did however, find these guys (see pic below) in the same vicinity! I must have a lot of aphids in my oak trees or in my tillandsias. Or maybe the ladybugs just like the tillandsias, although I've never seen them there before. I'd go looking for aphids, but I'll just trust that they're in there somewhere. Bromeliads are really good for wildlife. I've got native anoles for the first time ever (along with the Cuban anoles). I wish I could get rid of the Cuban tree frogs, but I smash them every time I see them (they eat native lizards and frogs). It's like I have this whole ecosystem in my bromeliad garden.
And then there was this other guy. Cool lookin' huh? Thanks everyone on here for helping me identify those eggs.
I forgot yesterday to post this pic. I guess it's one of those Wooly Bear cats. This is the first year I can recall seeing these guys. Maybe it's just because I pay attention now. This one was all black, although I have seen a few with the reddish band on them.
Melanie
But Mellie those two above ARE ladybugs!!!! They are just at different stages.
Look here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/3550/
Awesome Mel!
Sheila's right! The other one is LB.
Tip for releasing ladybugs:
Do it at night.... Wet the garden down a little bit, and then release them. That is what's recommended to make them stay in your garden better.. Maybe they will mate again too!
This message was edited Jan 23, 2008 8:32 AM
They really DO look like little aligators, don't they!
Yes they do Deb, kinda prehistoric...
I know those are ladybugs. I meant I couldn't find the ones I had put there that morning. I'm not sure where the newly hatched ones went since it was dark and I couldn't really see where I put them. I wasn't expecting to see even more of ladybugs, and especially not ones in those stages. I must have a colony forming out back, lol!
Melanie
Yes, when I bought some they said water the yard then release at the bottom of a plant like milkweed that has a food source (aphids) after dark. They will crawl up but not fly until morning, but by then some will stay.
Love that pic Sheila!
Lady Bugs can be bought????? I didn't know that! Where have I been?
I bought 1500 Ladybugs a couple years ago from this company. Unfortunately, they are not selling Ladybugs this winter. They arrived very healthy!
http://www.growquest.com/free_ladybugs.htm
And here is a download fact sheet about ladybugs:
http://www.gardeningzone.com/catalog/images/ladybug%20Info%20sheet_web.pdf
This is the United States, anything can be bought. Most sources I've read say that introduced ladybugs aren't as effective as they tend to disperse. They seem to agree it's better to try and attract the ones that already live here. I'm just glad I have some. Just like raising butterflies, it's been a learning experience.
Melanie
I got mine at a local nursery, only about $7 I think and that was for a whole bunch. They keep them in mesh bags in a frig until sold. They don't all stick around, but enough does that I see them all the time.
Thanks for those links on buying ladybugs. I really had a terrible aphid investation on my milkweeds this past summer. I'm going to need a better method than my glove.
Do you buy the adult or the eggs?
The ones you buy are adults. Caution on killing the aphids, be sure they aren't ladybug eggs or larva among them. Look at the eggs on the link Becky posted. http://www.gardeningzone.com/catalog/images/ladybug%20Info%20sheet_web.pdf
They look a lot like yellow aphids to the naked eye.
This message was edited Jan 24, 2008 10:44 PM
I will look for them for know on. It never crossed my mind to lookout for ladybug eggs. Geesh, no wonder I had so many aphids. Thanks for advice!