Getting Bugged

Ahh, springtime in the garden. All looks peaceful and serene.

The plants are green and blooming, despite the harsh winter, late freezes, and dry spring.


One of the Pale-Leaf Yuccas has two tall flower spikes.


And one mysteriously writhing flower stalk.


Bluebonnets and Gulf Coast Penstemon bloom around the Giant Hesperaloe.


I finally divided the Brakelights Red Yucca that I bought a couple of months ago. I was hoping to get at least three plants and ended up with five. All divided easily and should survive. I planted three near the Giant Hesperaloe and still need to decide where the other two will go. They are in their own pots until I decide.


But looks can be deceiving. Amid all the beauty of spring, destructive little beasts are lurking around the garden and feasting on some of the plants.


Large numbers of the beetles feed on Missouri Evening Primrose in the front garden. I think they are flea beetles. 


Here is a close up of the beetles on the Missouri Evening Primrose. Interestingly, in the back garden, they are feeding on some wild Gaura that I collected from a field and they are not touching the Stemless Evening Primrose, a close relative to the Missouri Evening Primrose.


Four lined plant bugs suck the juices out of the leaves which results in damage that looks similar to a disease, rather than an insect attack. They are quite fond sages. Damage to Autumn Sage is pictured above. They are also attacking the Mealycup Sage and Big Red Sage.


In addition to the sages, the Four lined Plant Bugs are feeding on the Gayfeather. A couple of them are barely visible in this photo. Had I seen them when I was taking the picture, I would have attempted to squash them between my finger and thumb. They are hard to catch because they drop to the ground when threatened. I spot sprayed the flea beetles and four lined plant bugs with light horticultural oil in an attempt to get them under control. That is the strongest insecticide that I will use and it seems to have helped some. I have to be careful with the spray because I do not want to hit any good bugs or predators of these pests. This fall, I will put out some beneficial nematodes to see if that will help control the overwintering pests.


Another pest attacking the Gayfeather and a few other plants are spittlebugs. The nymphs live in the foamy mass they create on stems and suck juices from the stems. Fortunately, they usually do not cause much damage. I will try to get rid of them by washing them off with a stream of water from the hose.


In addition to the flea beetles, hummingbird moth caterpillars are quickly consuming the Gaura leaves and flowers. It is interesting that they are different colors.


I don't mind this caterpillar too much because I will eventually get the benefit of more of the moths in the garden and more opportunities to try to take a good picture of one. This blurry one is feeding on the flowers of Gulf Coast Penstemon.


Too bad for the caterpillars that they were discovered by a female grackle over the weekend. She ate just about every one of them. Who knew grackles ate anything besides french fries in parking lots?


I invite many caterpillars into the garden by planting the host plants that they eat. One example is bronze fennel which supports black swallowtail caterpillars. In this example, the damage caused by the caterpillars is barely noticeable. 

Some insects can be a pest in the garden, but they are usually just a temporary annoyance. The flea beetles and four lined plant bugs should disappear as quickly as they appeared and new growth should replace the damaged leaves. 

This is the second year these two insects have attacked the garden. I hope biological warfare this fall with beneficial nematodes will keep their numbers in check next year.

Is your garden getting bugged too?

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Sometimes, things are not always as they appear. The glob on this twig looks like a bird dropping. It is not. It is the camouflaged caterpillar of the giant swallowtail butterfly. This particular caterpillar is about 2 inches long and will soon pupate. Within a few of weeks, I should have a giant swallowtail butterfly soaring around the prairie and sipping on nectar from the prairie flowers.

The caterpillar has been feeding on the leaves of my Hercules Club sapling, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, for a couple of weeks. In the photo below, the caterpillar is on the main stem just below the lower branches. 

Hercules Club is a medium sized tree with spiny branches. I also have the closely related Toothache Tree, Zanthoxylum hirsutum. Both trees look the same to me. I assume I have both varieties, but it is always possible that one or both of the plants were mislabeled at the native plant sales. Both trees are hosts to the giant swallowtail butterfly larva and both trees will numb your mouth if you chew on the leaves are bark, hence the name Toothache tree.

It's true that sometimes, things are not always as they appear. Other times, things are exactly as they appear. This glob in my bird bath looks like a bird dropping. It is.

06-10-10 UPDATE: The caterpillar is gone. I hope it found a safe place to pupate and transform into a butterfly. Wasps get many of my caterpillars once they are plump and juicy.

I got certified!

Well, not me, but my garden was certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat . I applied for the Best of Backyards program through Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In addition to the NWF certification, I received a Texas Wildscape certificate from TPWD and a Best of Texas Backyard Habitats certificate from TPWD and the NWF.

The wildlife that frequents my garden is usually small. Insects, birds, lizards, plant-eating rabbits, neighbor's bird-killing cats, hole-digging, acorn-planting squirrels, and opossums. The neighborhood is bordered by major streets, so unless wildlife is already here, can fly or animals escape from a circus train, that is about all the wildlife I will ever see in my garden.

Here is an example of some wildlife that carried out its life cycle in my garden. Last year in September, I noticed tiny pipevine swallowtail caterpillars on my pipevine. As the leaves disappeared, the caterpillars grew. The first photo is from October 2008.

The pipevine was in its second year. I thought there would be enough leaves to sustain the caterpillars, but the started stripping the leaves very quickly. They are not the brightest creatures either. Although perfectly tasty leaves were still available for them, I assume they could not find them, so several of the caterpillars took off on a journey searching for more food. If I noticed them wandering off, I returned them to the vine and they immediately resumed munching on the leaves.

Over time, the numbers of caterpillars dwindled. I do not know if they set off on one of their journeys and died or became food for a wasp or bird. Maybe they just went off somewhere to pupate. In the end, I only know where two of them pupated.

The creatures pupated through the winter. I was not sure if they were dead or alive. Then one day in March 2009 I notice one had emerged as a butterfly. Later that day, I noticed a butterfly had emerged from the other pupa and was waiting for its wings to extend and fill with fluid.

The wings looked small, so I thought it would take a while before the butterfly would fly off. I walked away for a few minutes and when I came back to take more pictures the butterfly flew up into a neighbor's tree. I was able to get one last shot of my backyard wildlife.

The life cycle continues. There are two clusters of pipevine swallowtail eggs on the pipevine now. Are they from one of my butterflies? Could be. Will there be enough leaves to sustain all the hungry caterpillars? I hope so.