Strange and Wonderful Things in the Garden

This semester of classes is pretty tough..Discrete Math and a more advanced C++ currently topping the list.  I have to study harder and more frequently which gives me less time in the garden..I have left it to its own devices meandering out there here and there to check on things.  This morning, however, I decided to spend some quality time as some of my plants needed moving and some just needed to be put in the ground.

The veggie garden is making good progress.  I planted Fern Leaf Dill, Pineapple Sage and Gomphrena in the space next to the edging this morning.  Hubby had dug a trench to install irrigation off our main system and the tilled dirt inspired me.

I finally planted my red Passionflower Vine on the back wall of the butterfly garden, in between my regular Blue (purple) Passion Vine and a Lady Lavender Passion Vine (which I have yet to see bloom).  This really weird 'hammer head' worm was sliming down the back wall.  I watched him in fascination and allowed him to crawl around my plants until I lost track of him.  After the fact, I kind of regretted it, realizing he may be some strange parasite..he was about two inches long.

Back behind the garden is a shed which we will eventually remove.  For now, I use the ledge of the foundation at the base of the shed to 'store' my plastic pots and some garden paraphernalia that comes from the nurseries.  I have started re-purposing a lot of items for gardening, like egg cartons to sprout seedlings with vermiculite/moss mixture.  Admittedly, I don't always pick up after myself.  This is a bucket I used to scoop up oak leaves for the chipper to make mulch.  After I was finished I left it sitting behind the garden and eventually put two plastic containers in there that I had used for sprouting.  Several rain storms later..it was filled with these slimy, goopy black eggs.  It is VERY bad to leave standing water in Florida because of all the terrible mosquitoes..but there was no mosquito larvae to be found.  I have no idea what the eggs are..I am going to guess some sort of frog..and I could not bear to dump it out so they are staying where they are for the time being. 

Moving on to the butterfly garden..I never get tired of snapping photos of the ever present Gulf Fritillaries.  They pose for me all the time.  I normally crop the pictures in really close but I loved all the background colors in this one from the petunias and the pentas.

The Long Tailed Skipper has been here for a few weeks.  Prefers to hop around the lantana.  I love the blue green fuzz on his back.

Another strange and wonderful creature spotted in the garden.  This white spider was clinging to the underside of the lantana and didn't really want its picture taken but I persisted.  It was so white - I didn't know if this was the natural color or if it had gone through some skin shedding process but he looked pretty cool.

Aside from being messy, another of my faults is impatience.  Everything I have read about gardening says to have a plan and don't just put things in the ground.  This is very good advice.  I have looked at hundreds and hundreds of plans but couldn't decide exactly what to do for my zone and the space I had..etc.  So, sometimes, I just impulse buy a plant or flower then look up its characteristics later.  I bought a seed mixture wanting lots of blooms and colors..not realizing the height the flowers would grow.  This seed mixture has grown over the course of four weeks now to a height of three feet!  Since I foolishly put it at the front of my red and yellow garden, it is blocking the view of the beautiful plants behind it and looks kind of wild..I am going to have to move them one day. 

Luna Hibiscus is blooming profusely and one of the flowers blocked by the giant cosmos and zinnia. 

Coral Honeysuckle is blooming and growing beautifully on the trellis John built me.  I was worried about it for awhile but it is doing great now.

 

Mr. Lincoln rose bloom this morning.  The roses are doing pretty well in their own garden beside our temporary shed.  I had to weed today for the second time this week then covered them up with some more cypress mulch, hoping to inhibit some weed growth. 

I cut these flowers from my garden this weekend.  It includes Vinca, Zinnia, Melampodium, Lantana, Dahlia, and Pink Roses.  I have two varieties of Melampodium in the Red/Yellow garden..I don't know how the second, larger variety got there.  Several months ago when I planted the garden, I bought some dying Melampodium Melanie at Lowe's..they died after a couple weeks.  I bought some smaller Melampodium ( I think Paludosum) at a local nursery and it was thriving.  I saw these large leaves sprouting up one day and they bloomed like Melampodium..so maybe they were the dead ones from Lowe's?  At any rate, this morning they were invaded by army worms which are the only caterpillars I don't keep in my garden so I pulled some of it out and disposed of the critters. 

Caterpillars for Class

After getting permission from my boy's elementary teachers, we put together some boxes so they could take caterpillars to school.  I have never written a 'How-To' but going through this process and the realization of everything I have learned in the last few months about raising caterpillars and releasing butterflies..I thought maybe I would take some pictures and try to write about it.  For the caterpillars I raise, I use two habitats that were purchased online - one is from a kid's kit for Painted Ladies, the other is a small monarch castle I got from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm http://www.butterfliesetc.com/

For the boys' projects, I decided to emulate a release box we used at our wedding, just a little larger with room for live plant cuttings.  I started with a shoebox, a roll of tulle (on sale for $2 at Hobby Lobby) and a hot glue gun.

I  cut out rectangular 'viewing windows' on the long sides and the top of the shoe box.  I also figured this would help air circulate through the habitat so the caterpillars wouldn't suffocate.  The windows could not be wider than the width of the roll of tulle so I made sure not to cut the rectangles too large by placing the roll on top of the side and top of the box first, then just 'eyeballed' where to cut and used the combination of a cheap steak knife and my kitchen scissors.  My husband helped me with the second one and he prefers more accuracy so I believe he used a pencil to trace his outline.

Next, I cut out pieces of tulle to fit the inside of the box on the underside of the rectangular cut outs.  I trimmed any overlap but there needs to be at least a one inch or so overlap on all the edges to get the hot glue to adhere the tulle to the cardboard.  This step was tricky and we tried different ways with the glue gun, from putting the glue on the cardboard first, to putting it on the tulle then carefully laying it on top.  The problem is the glue dries fast and when the tulle is placed down it can bunch up and be hard to work with.  What finally worked best for me in the end was to lay the tulle over the opening as flat as I could, then use the glue gun on top of the edge of the tulle and pressing down with the glue gun onto the tulle and running the length of the cutout so that the glue presses flat and it instantly sticks to the cardboard.  The tulle easily pinches and bunches..so it just requires a little patience.  Also, I knew I was creating a caterpillar box for my little boys, not an art masterpiece.

After the shoebox was finished, I put a little camo tape on one end..I have boys, after all, so I wanted to make a butterfly habitat seem more 'boyish' to them..plus they just love the camo duct tape.  I gathered together some plastic kitchen containers.  I have been saving lots of these lately as I find they are very good for starting seeds on the porch before transplanting to the garden.  I used a half gallon milk jug, plastic soup container and plastic fig container with the first two containers tops sawed off.  You can use anything as long as it is not too deep nor too shallow to hold some potting mix and the plant cuttings.  I lined the bottom of the box with wax paper folded into a rectangle and doubled up..I find that it helps a little if you spill water and is easier to clean up caterpillar poop by replacing the wax paper.

Next, I make my fresh clipping 'potting mix'.  I must've read about this mix in a gardening book or blog somewhere but I love it!  I bought the moss and vermiculite at Lowe's in the garden center.  I guess I use about half and half..I have never really been one for measuring..but I fill the containers about half and half..then add water until it turns soupy and let it sit for a few minutes.  I just use a stick from the yard or whatever is lying around to stir the mix up a bit.  If it is too soupy and watery..just add a dash of vermiculite..a few sprinkles at a time and watch it absorb the water up until it is the right texture of a strange looking soil.  I used this mix with some coleus clippings and root hormone to successfully create some new coleus plants.

Then, I went to the garden and clipped some of the caterpillar's host plants.  I have read over and over again to clip plants at an angle..so I always do that.  For this box, I collected Gulf Fritillary caterpillars and their host plant is Passionflower vine - this is what I am cutting in the picture.  I have found in the past that some caterpillars will starve themselves to death if you just put them in a box with cut leaves of their host plant.  I started out using live plants when I ordered some online, then went to using clippings in water, but now I use my clippings in the potting mix.  I find that the plants stay green for a very long time..and sometimes they will even sprout roots at the bottom..which means you can then plant them to grow a new plant.  This is helpful when buying lots of plants just for caterpillars to eat them can get expensive!

After you have a few clippings, take them back to your potting mix to 'install them'.  They take some fiddling around with to get them to sit in there right sometimes.  Since I was putting these in a shoebox I had to get the bottom of the clipping far down into the mix enough that I could curl up the top of the plant so it didn't constantly brush the top of the lid if the kids wanted to remove the lid.  I also used my fingers to mound up a little bit of the mix at the base of the root I stuck in to stabilize it a little more.  If you play with it long enough, you will get them arranged the way you want them, just make sure they are secure enough so if they are bumped or something they won't pull up out of the mix making a mess everywhere.  

Arrange the plants inside your box.

Gently collect the caterpillars and place them in their new 'home'. 

Ready to go to school!  The plants should be checked daily and when they have all been eaten, need to be pulled out and replaced with fresh plants.  The vermiculite mix stays moist for a long time but if it starts to get dry, add a little water so it stays moist to the touch.  

I am no expert at all but I have learned a few things about raising caterpillars so far:

Caterpillars go through several stages, called instars, where they shed their old skin.  If the caterpillar is very still and not moving, don't touch it or mess with it, as it may be shedding its skin.  If the skin shedding process is disrupted, they can get stuck and die.

Caterpillars can get stressed out..don't handle them more than is needed.

When clipping live plants..ants and little spiders can get into the habitats on the plants.  If I see any other bug in the habitat I immediately squash (or remove) it.  Caterpillars have many enemies.  

Caterpillars sometimes die.  I have cared for several generations of several different species now, and as careful as I try to be, sometimes some of them start to shrivel a little or don't look good..then they just die, and  I don't know why.  I have read somewhere that when a butterfly lays eggs in the wild, typically only one of 100 will survive to full maturity.

Don't mess with the cocoons, nor the caterpillars when they get into 'J' formation.  You can tell they are about to pupate when they attach themselves to the top of the habitat or a piece of plant in a 'J'.  I never touch them or bother them during this stage although sometimes I am lucky enough to sit nearby and watch the cocoon form.  

Morning

I love the morning in my garden.  As the sun rises over the fence and wall, it lights up each section of the flowers one at a time and the butterflies wake up and come out to play.  I go out with my camera and sit in my chair or sometimes on the wet, dewy ground and just watch and listen.  Cardinals, doves, blue jays, mockingbirds, titmice and hawks are common.  Less common, we are starting to get some warblers and I had a Loggerhead Shrike in the large oak behind our back wall last week. 

While I am waiting for the butterflies to come out and play, I walk the path in front of my two gardens, looking for weeds, caterpillars and any new blooms.  I was in awe of this giant hibiscus bloom this morning.  It is such a beautiful shade of pale yellow tinged with a blush peach and is as large as a small salad plate.  I know it will probably only last for the day but it is breathtaking.

The skippers come out first.  Darting rapidly in and out of the flowers and foliage, looking for a place to perch and sun their wings in the rays.  This little one was sunning himself in the yellow/red garden and when I crouched down to take his picture he turned his head to look at me with those large eyes!  I normally crop the photos closer but I love the Red and Orange Blanket Flower in the background. 

Eventually I got another picture of this one on leaves of Cosmos that I planted from a seed mixture weeks ago.  The seeds have sprouted up so high I realized I planted them in the wrong place at the front of the garden! 

An unwelcome guest at the table of my caterpillar garden is these pests.  There are a couple different kinds I have seen.  I think this one is called a striped armyworm.  There is another kind that has spots, I believe it is Spodoptera Ornithogalli.  They eat my flower blossoms from the inside out!  When I find them, I squish them

In contrast to the lush floral arrangement that is the nectar side of my butterfly garden, I have grouped a lot of host plants on the other side..which means when the caterpillars are finished feasting it looks pitiful and bare. I had an untamed philodendron in the corner that I have been slowly trying to manage.  I need to find a solution to cover up the bareness of these plants when they are devoured after each generation of butterflies. My husband says I can't just go out and buy more host plants every time they are eaten to nubs anymore.

I am curious what will happen to my pentas when it gets cooler.  I have read other gardener's blogs from this area that say if the frost kills them, they will come back.  I hope so.  They have grown so big from the quart and smaller plants I bought from the local nurseries.  I have a lot of the brown striped lizards in my yard but I  enjoy finding the green ones and this guy was enjoying the morning warmth; I almost didn't see him.

Garden Progress

While I am busy with Fall Semester classes..the garden and its inhabitants grow daily outside my window.  I went outside after lunch to check in on everybody and see how things were going.  It was super steamy and muggy out.  I decided to throw out some dead zinnias I had cut for a vase probably three weeks ago.  I added them to the compost pile and set about to trimming the flowers.  I like to 'deadhead' to promote new growth, but I like to cut the flowers and put them in a vase to enjoy while eating dinner even more.

The Giant Swallowtail caterpillar is becoming, well, giant.  It looks like a piece of bird poop.  That is its defense mechanism.  Despite that, it will still get attacked and eaten by wasps.  This guy is in the zippered habitat on the back patio, happily and safely munching away on citrus leaves.

This Gulf Fritillary reached deep into this penta to get a drink.  I still marvel at this butterfly's beautiful patterns.  I saw a couple mating and another female laying eggs.  

A miniature dinosaur on the Cassia.  The yellow butterflies will lay eggs but they haven't landed in the yard in a few days to drink nectar.  At least, not while I am standing out there with the camera.

I can't remember all the skippers and duskywings but I have a lot of them in my garden.  I think this one is called a Horace's Duskywing.  But don't hold me to that.  I do like the contrast of the pink zinnia and how she holds her wings open though. 

This is a Long Tailed Skipper.  I also have Dorantes Long Tailed Skippers but they lack the brilliant turquoise blue back that this Long Tailed Skipper has.  I love the colors in nature!

The Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars are getting bigger.  Do you see how many are in the photo above?  I hope the Dutchman's Pipevine plant holds out for them as long as possible!

I have been waiting all Summer to get a picture of this beauty in my yard.  I would only see one rarely.  She is here to stay, I hope.  She laid eggs on the Passionvine I planted under the Bird of Paradise, so I have brought a group of them onto the patio to raise.  Truly gorgeous patterning on the Zebra Longwings!

This interesting moth is an Acraea Moth, I believe.  I found a large, fuzzy caterpillar in the garden munching on lots of greens awhile back and I decided to raise him after running into him a few times.  I was surprised to see this white creature come out of its fuzzy cocoon..I actually have never seen a moth emerge..they don't have a chrysalis like the butterflies..I just wake up the next morning and they are there.

The veggie garden is coming along.  Something is nibbling the leaves already but I really want to stay organic so I am going to have to come up with something to spray if I want to have anything to harvest!

Caterpillar Count

I decided to take a break from propositional logic this morning to stroll through the backyard and butterfly garden to see what caterpillar activity was going on. Flitting about was a Monarch, Gulf Fritillary, a few skippers and a Polydamas Swallowtail.  

I checked first to see if I still had Oleander moth caterpillars.  The neighbor has an oleander tree that is being munched slowly by dozens of these orange and black hairy caterpillars that I identified as larva of the Oleander moth.  The moth is spectacular and I have a few photos of one that flew into my garage a month ago.  It mimics a wasp with its coloring and body shape and is a day flying moth, unlike most that are nocturnal.  The oleander hangs close to our fence and I have seen lots of these critters crawling all over the place on the philodendron and such.  I saw a cluster of what looked like newly hatched babies on my mandevilla underneath the bird feeder.  It appears they are growing and eating the mandevilla..which makes me wonder if it is as toxic as the oleander.

Next, I checked the Passion Vine growing on my white Bird of Paradise.  The vine has done well but has not attracted any Zebra Longwings to lay eggs as I had hoped, it being mostly shady from what I can tell.  The Gulf Fritillaries flock to it and recently have laid probably hundreds of eggs.  Here is a baby, probably only a few days old and then I checked the passion vine on the back wall of the butterfly garden which has a group of very large Gulf Fritillary caterpillars; they look like they are nearly ready to pupate. 

A monarch stopped on the Golden Milkweed, or asclepias, as I am told there is another plant that goes by Milkweed up North that looks nothing like the Asclepias down here.  She was laying eggs and I checked on the caterpillars in various stages of instars on the remaining Asclepias plants in the garden.  Monarchs are voracious eaters and poopers.  They eat the Asclepias in the garden down to nubs and bare branches.

 I also checked the dwarf Cassia.  It is a hot spot of egg activity for the yellow butterflies - Sulphurs, Orange Barred Sulphurs, Cloudless Sulphurs, Sleepy Oranges.  I believe these are Sleepy Orange caterpillars.  I have raised some on the patio before and they come out quite small with the black edge on the top of the inside wing.  The other caterpillar I have seen on this plant is green with black nubs/stripes and a white stripe.  They camouflage quite well with the plant, often appearing to be a part of it. 

Finally, I checked the Dutchman's Pipe Vine plant which I have growing on a wire cage.  As the tender new leaves started coming in, recovering from the last batch of caterpillars, the Polydamas came in and laid her eggs.  These guys are so fun to watch as they are little.  They all hatch and stay in a group together for awhile until they get bigger.