Ok, this is kinda gross, but also very interesting.  This is a tobacco hornworm on one of my tomato plants.  Usually I get rid of them, but this one is doing a remarkable thing.  

 

There is a parasitic wasp, Cotesia congregata, that oviposits her eggs under the skin of tobacco hornworms.  When the larvae hatch out, they use the hornworm for food.  So, you see, this hornworm is serving a very important purpose:  feeding beneficial insects in my garden, thus reducing the population of hornworms.  

 

The first time I saw this, I had no idea how a caterpillar could lay eggs.  Of course, they don't, but you don't know until you know.  The wasp larvae feed on the caterpillar, then spin their cocoons which pop out through the caterpillar skin.  So, these white fuzzy things on the caterpillar are wasp cocoons.  Natural hornworm population control.  

 

Now you know.  Still kinda gross.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I don't know...does this look comfortable to you?  Yeah, me too.  

 

But this is how he spent a couple hours yesterday.  I guess to understand it, you have to be a cat...

 

 

HAPPY TIMES IN THE MOUNTAINS

 

OK, this is why you need to bring in your bird feeders (all of them) every night.

 

This little raccoon got into Sandy's hummingbird feeder, and left its little sticky footprints all over the deck.  

 

Cute, but...do you really want to encourage wildlife to come onto your deck?  I don't think so.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We haven't seen the butterflies, but we know they have been here.  

 

Cabbage whites are very noticeable flittering around in the garden, so I don't know how we missed them.  But they lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves of all the Brassicas.  I noticed all the caterpillar poop in the kale, so I started looking for the feeding caterpillars.  And here they are:  GROSS!!!

 

You really can't see any damage yet, but as they get bigger, they eat more, and leave huge holes in the kale leaves.  We have to get rid of them SOON!!!  

 

We use a biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis, we just call it Bt, that disrupts the digestive system of the worms.  It doesn't kill the butterflies, or any other critters, including us, just worms.  Worms have an enzyme in their stomachs that reacts with these bacteria, and they stop eating our kale.  Really, that's a nice way of saying that Bt causes paralysis.  

 

Anyway, Bt is approved for organic gardening.  So we use it.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

When we brought in the cabbages I saw all these snails on this one.  I thought you would like to see them, showing their tentacles.  Did you know that their eyes are on the ends of their tentacles?   Interesting.  

 

Good news, they are so little, I don't think they ate too much of the cabbage.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

You know all those catkins from the oak and hickory trees?  Those things that stuff up your gutters, and hang all over everything in the spring?  In actuality, they are the male flowers carrying pollen to make future acorns.  Ok, we get that.

 

Well, I heard a great name for them the other day:  are you ready?  Oak Worms.  Hahaha!!!

 

My friend called them that in passing, and I fell out laughing.  I guess it is a throwback from her childhood.  Funny!!!  Anyway, now you know what to call them...next spring, when you see them again.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Not too subtle.  The deer reach up and pull down the branches of the apple tree to eat the leaves.  If they knock off an apple, they eat that too, but we think they are really after the leaves.  

 

Just about every tree in our neighborhood is pruned (read: browsed) up to about 5 feet.  

 

Oh well, they can't get the ones at the top.  There are enough for us all.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

It is indeed fawn season.  We’ve seen quite a few already.  This baby is INSIDE the blueberry fence.

 

I know she can’t do that much damage, but we chased her out anyway.  

 

Don’t mind seeing them, just not INSIDE the fence.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

 

 

Jon was admiring this marigold in the catnip, and noticed our first Praying Mantis of the season.  It was only about 2 inches long, but we know that it will grow a lot more as time goes by.  

 

We love seeing them in the garden.  They eat bugs!!!  And they are pretty.

 

 

HAPPY  GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

As we were walking out into the garden yesterday, I noticed something brown on the fence.  I thought it was a big brown leaf, so I brushed it off the fence.  It started moving!!!!  It was two Polyphemus moths.  One was old, and a bit the worse for wear, and then there was this one:  perfect!!!  

 

I took their pictures, and when we were done for the day, I looked them up.  Actually, I loaded the picture onto my iPad, then put the Seek app on it and this is what I learned:

 

Its real name is Antheraea polyphemus, a member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan-colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 in.) The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hind wings.  The eyespots give it its name - from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus.  The species is widespread in continental North America…

 

I will tell you this:  it took my breath away.  Thought you’d like to see it too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!