What’s Eating You?
I grow tomatillos every summer for the chipmunks. They climb up the plants and shake the fruit down. I love watching this trick. My usual supplier did not have any, so I had to grow them from seed.
Growing these plants has taken months of babying, watering and staking. I finally put most of the potted plants in the ground last weekend.
They started disappearing on Monday. It happened so fast I thought the deer had eaten them. The twigs and fruit were left, but the leaves were gone.
Evidence was examined.
The culprits had the nerve to continue eating right there in front of me.
There were numerous Tobacco Hornworms on each plant. They hang upside down to eat.
Grasping the petiole with their back legs and gripping the leaf blade with their front little legs.
They munch away with their tiny mouths.
Okay, so I planted these Tomatillos for the chipmunks and now they are being eaten by caterpillars.
I am hoping for a lovely crop of Carolina Sphinx moths this fall. I have planted a patch of Four-o’clocks just for them.
FLOW
On Golden Pear
I spend a lot of time outside every day. I am usually too wet and dirty to go inside for a snack, so I grab a hand full of Yellow Pear tomatoes.
I call them Golden Pear because it is so much more poetic. These tomatoes are the perfect size to pop in your mouth. They are not too acidic to eat alone.
This morning I started to pick a snack and noticed signs of another snacker. Missing leaves and frass(poop) means caterpillars.
The expected suspect was the Tomato Hornworm/ Manduca quinquemaculata. I searched and search for the expected intruder, only to discover many other visitors on Golden Pear.
I first found a brown caterpillar.
Then an exoskeleton shed by a cicada.
I almost picked this pear with a tiny frog on it.
No jewel could be more gorgeous than this tiny amphibian.
I finally located the suspected munchers.
There were three. They were smaller than I expected.
I even clipped one off the plant and had to put it back.
These caterpillars make lovely moths. I do not mind sharing my Yellow Pear tomato leaves.
Who knew there was all this life on Golden Pear?
FLOW
If I had Wings
If I had wings I would want them to be sturdy and small
not big and showy.
I do not want to be defined by my wings.
I want to be known for my flying.
I need wings I can count on in a storm.
Not delicate colorful things that keep me grounded.
My wings need strength, with strong ribs and veins.
So that I can fly when I need to fly.
I want some rainy-day wings to lift me up and out to a new place.
I do not wish for beautiful wings, I need useful wings.
FLOW
A Girl’s Gotta Eat
I was out chasing flyers today.
I found many butterflies,
dragon flies,
and wasps.
I am glad I spotted this nest before the wasps spotted me.
I was pleased to see a Hummingbird clearwing/Hemaris thysbe in the mix.
Upon closer inspection, the clearwing was not pleased.
It was being eaten by a Green Lynx Spider/ Peucetia viridans.
This is the exact location I find a “Mama Lynx” every summer.
I hope I can witness the making of the egg sac and the hatching of spiderlings again this year.
Stay tuned for more wings.
FLOWER
The Colors of Change
The colors of August are the warning colors…yellow, orange and red.
They are the colors of change.
The heat cannot continue.
The blooming must cease.
It is time to set seed
and harvest the crops
and prepare for a change.
There will always be change.
Beginnings and endings.
Births and deaths.
Slowing and stopping.
August is a time of change.
A crescendo of colors.
When the brights cannot get brighter.
The light must dim. Life must dim…and slow…and stop.
Only to begin again at another place…at another time.
A Slower Flower remembering our precious Melissa
The Queen and the Cactus
The surprises just keep coming here. This post was supposed to be entitled ‘Catching a Queen’ but something else happened out there in the dark last night. I would have missed it, but I assigned Mr. Flower night duty. I went out around 9:30PM to catch the late bloom of the “Queen of the Night.” I caught myself dozing while waiting. I knew if I fell asleep, I would have no blood by morning due to the mosquitoes.
I asked Mr. Flower to catch later photos when he finished watching television. This was a fortuitous move because when he went out late in the night, he noticed that his fifty-year-old Giant Cactus (given to him by his grandmother) which is beside the Night Blooming Cereus was ALSO blooming that very same night.
So here we go with the Queen and the Cactus blooming side by side. It was not a full moon, just a 50% quarter moon. The two plants must have been communicating. They are touching each other and tied to the same deck pole.
Here is the Queen alone at 9:30PM. Click to enlarge.
Notice the base of the large cactus to the left.
Here are side by side photos and Queen late in the night. Cactus left. Queen right.
Cactus side view left. Queen side view right.
THIS is what makes my heart sing. Catching a Queen and a cactus blooming on the same night. My thanks to Mr. Flower for the assist. This Flower needs her sleep!
Flow
Missing a Miracle
I had been paying attention to my Night Blooming Cereus plant.
Its buds had elongated days ago. They turned up like pipes earlier than expected.
I knew that the eight buds of this ‘Queen of the Night’ would open soon.
I missed it last night. I went to bed early. I got up at 1:30AM to get water. It never occurred to me to go out and peek over the deck railing.
When I saw the white skirts of petals this morning I knew I had missed it.
Seven blooms have opened. Tears were shed.
This plant bloomed for the first time ever, two days before my precious daddy died.
Queen or Angel?
There is still one bud unopened. I saw something curious through my tears. Three NEW little buds.
This plant has never bloomed twice. Maybe that is the miracle. Maybe I did not miss it after all.
Flow
Hastily Clipping a Caterpillar
I did not mean to disturb my big, green friend. I was trying to prevent Mr. Flower from getting a head injury while mowing under the Vitex Agnus-Castus/Chaste tree. This tree is also called a butterfly tree. It has lovely purple blooms.
I rushed under the tree with my clippers. Mr. Flower complains if my plants interfere with mowers and air conditioning units. I have to be ever vigilant in my trimming.
I did not notice the big, green caterpillar until I was placing branches on the burn pile. It looked similar to the “tomato horn worms” I find every year, only it was larger, had fewer markings and was more of a wintergreen than a bright green.
I had to do some research to identify my new friend. It is a Copper Underwing Moth Caterpillar. I have never seen one before. I hoped I had not wiped out a rare insect with my hasty clipping.
I tried to remedy my wrong by placing the chopped branch back in the tree. Hours later the foundling was still stubbornly clinging to its dying branch. I was fearful that it would wither up and die with its perch.
After almost twenty-four hours of worry, I finally noticed it had moved onto a higher branch in the tree. What a relief!
Now I will watch and see if it is there to munch or go through metamorphosis.
Flow
floweralley 