Re: Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please!

**Scorpio Rising** 2/21/2016, 9:20 pm

Marie, they are fairly common around here in deep summer, really dramatic and huge!

https://www.google.com/search?q=luna+moth&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=Dj3U3schn9eDFM%3A

Gorgeous! I love moths and butterflies! And after reading "Bringing Nature Home" Tallamy; I know I am going to be planting more native species to encourage the natural balance of things to bring back into balance the predators, plants that I want, pests, which it turns out are a huge part of the larger food chain, and which is why you need to plant enough to have some throw away. Really good read. study

**AtlantaMarie** 2/22/2016, 8:32 am

Really? I'm so jealous.... That's the only one I've ever seen. And your description is spot-on!

I'll have to keep an eye out for that book. Thanks!

**Scorpio Rising** 2/22/2016, 10:40 pm

Got it on loan from library, inter library loan thing. Skimmed it for the most part, I know why kudzu is bad, but there were really some interesting "non-native species" that Inthought were native! Very disconcerting. Just because something has been here for a very long while does not make it native.

That was a new and different concept to me. And the description of how the native bugs, birds, mammals, up the food chain all depend on native plants is amazing.

Great ecological read. And back to the basics. Excellent!

"Bringing Nature Home" by Douglas W. Tallamy

cheers

**sanderson** 2/23/2016, 1:37 am

SR, Post your new book under Winter Reading?

countrynaturals 4/12/2016, 11:57 pm

Praying mantis in my milkweed last year. They can be good guys in some gardens, but they eat the caterpillars and eggs of the butterflies, so I had Hubby relocate this one to the far edge of the property.(Image is not upside down -- the mantis was.) Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Mantis13

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Mantis13

hammock gal 4/13/2016, 9:09 am

Not so strange, but a fairly constant companion in my yard. Here he is in the bush that's in front of the faucet at the back of the house. He startled me as I went to turn on the faucet, but I guess I didn't startle him too badly, cause he stayed put while I went to get the camera. He'd found a good spot for a sunbath. He was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground, so he's a good climber!

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Sssnak10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Sssnak10

**camprn** 4/13/2016, 10:08 am

Oh MAN! I really wish I had snakes in my garden.

hammock gal 4/13/2016, 11:38 am

camprn wrote:Oh MAN! I really wish I had snakes in my garden.

Are you sure you don't? I don't actually see them very often, I just hear a rustling and figure that's them wriggling away. Or sometimes I find a snakeskin in the flower bed.

**trolleydriver** 4/13/2016, 2:00 pm

Mrs TD would freak out if she saw a snake in the garden. affraid

**camprn** 4/13/2016, 2:37 pm

hammock gal wrote:
camprn wrote:Oh MAN! I really wish I had snakes in my garden.

Are you sure you don't? I don't actually see them very often, I just hear a rustling and figure that's them wriggling away. Or sometimes I find a snakeskin in the flower bed.

Yes, quite sure.

countrynaturals 4/21/2016, 10:07 pm

My latest visitor is a volunteer cuke from a compost pile I left in a container. We needed the compost for the new garden, so she had to be relocated.
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Cuke-v10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Cuke-v10

The reason I called her "she" is because she came with 2 foster baby ladybug larvae.
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Ladybu10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Ladybu10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Ladybu11

Pretty kewl, huh? Cool

**Scorpio Rising** 4/21/2016, 10:13 pm

Very very kewl! Loves my benies!

**sanderson** 4/22/2016, 2:41 am

Kewl photos.

BeetlesPerSqFt 4/25/2016, 12:50 pm

Strange and wonderful visitor/resident: Baby firefly (aka larva) in the Summercicle radish square!
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Firefl10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Firefl10

**sanderson** 4/25/2016, 8:57 pm

Firefly, as in "catch fireflies in the evening?" Neat. First time I saw them was 2 summers ago in Missouri.

BeetlesPerSqFt 4/25/2016, 10:30 pm

sanderson wrote:Firefly, as in "catch fireflies in the evening?" Neat. First time I saw them was 2 summers ago in Missouri.

Yup. As youngins they crawl around looking for, among other things, slugs and snails to eat. So not only do I get to enjoy them as flashy adults this summer, I also get natural pest control. Smile

landarch 4/26/2016, 10:17 am

too rainy here lately for pics...but I saw the first baby praying mantis of the year in my sugar ann peas. There were a couple sacs overwintering on the cattle panel trellis.

countrynaturals 5/10/2016, 7:26 pm

This one is strange, but might be so wonderful. While moving dirt from one container to another, I found this chrysalis.
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Chrys-10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Chrys-10

I brought it inside to wait for something to emerge, but it's probably a bad guy -- some sort of hummingbird moth (hawk moth). They're fascinating to see, but their larvae are some kind of tomato hornworms. affraid

countrynaturals 5/10/2016, 7:29 pm

California Sister! It's one of my favorite butterflies, but rarely seen in our yard, and when they do stop by, they're gone in a flash. This one just happened to land on one of my cukes while I had the camera in my hand. Not a very good pic, but still the best I've ever gotten.
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Califo10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Califo10

countrynaturals 5/12/2016, 4:39 pm

California Hairstreak. Last year we had about a hundred of these tiny butterflies in our ligustrum bush when it bloomed. It's just starting to blossom now, so I'll be watching for more of these babies.
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Ca-hai10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Ca-hai10

**Scorpio Rising** 5/12/2016, 10:27 pm

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:Strange and wonderful visitor/resident: Baby firefly (aka larva) in the Summercicle radish square!

So very, corrugated! We have lightning bugs here. My cousins growing up in other parts of the country were always so fascinated! They are über kewl.

**Scorpio Rising** 5/12/2016, 10:30 pm

countrynaturals wrote:This one is strange, but might be so wonderful. While moving dirt from one container to another, I found this chrysalis.

I brought it inside to wait for something to emerge, but it's probably a bad guy -- some sort of hummingbird moth (hawk moth). They're fascinating to see, but their larvae are some kind of tomato hornworms.

Beautiful. Sometimes there is enough to share, but those tomato hornworms are voracious! And hard to see at first...

BeetlesPerSqFt 5/12/2016, 11:33 pm

Wonderful - though not so strange (except perhaps the part where we have stern conversations...)
Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Img_5210

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Img_5210

I think this batch of baby bird food is a junebug, 2 worms, and maybe a caterpillar. The nest is up under the deck, adjacent to the garden. That means the parents get nervous/cross when they want to go to the nest but I'm 'in the way.' "Tut-tut-tut!" they say and say something back like "I'm not in the way! You can fly!" and "I don't eat robins!" or "I already know your nest is there. Just get in there already!"

**sanderson** 5/13/2016, 3:45 pm

I have a pair of mocking birds building a nest in the climbing rose. They picked up 2 remnants of trellis netting for the nest! This is the long one. Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Bird_m10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Bird_m10

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Bird_m11

I need to dead head the April roses before she lays her eggs. They are into the fluffy lining stage of the nest building.

The nest is to the right of all these beds with trellises/frames. The good thing is they eat tomato worms. Talk about a bed and breakfast. Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Table_25

Any Strange and Wonderful Visitors? Photos please! - Page 2 Table_25

countrynaturals 5/13/2016, 4:42 pm

Sanderson. Do you have some yarn scraps you could put out to help with their nest building?

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