Field Trip to Maggie's Herbs for DGers in Jacksonville area

I didn't mean it negatively, but just to say if your good you're real busy and they were. I honestly loved all 3 of them.
And the company too!
;)

I loved the company very much too. I got all my plants in today- worked all day redecorating the garden. Used up all my garden soil and I'm completely out of mulch. I was too dirty to go buy more and no time to shower. Thankfully, call was light.

I saw a Praying Mantis today! I got him onto the camera strap but then he got on me and scared the bejaysus out of me. (I'd recently read the thread bout the mantis and the hummingbird and didn't want to get stabbed!) The cats are doing great. You were sweet to give yours to Jeremy.

I can't wait to tour the N. Jax Garden Club (members- 2 )

Maggie

Finally a few blooms in my garden...... well I was lucky to at least have my camera charged for once... hehe spend too much time in the dirt and not enough indoors...

Have you been out to smell them tonight??
They are luscious at night.
Very pretty
sidney

variegated pentas I found a few days ago at NAS at the garden center... they only had one.. can wait to get this one bigger to take some cuttings! I really havent seen any more like this... have you???

Chris

Botanyguy,

Is that a Maya Brug.......she sure is a beauty, showing off her blooms!

That variegated penta is something I've not seen before, but now is added to my wish list......I've got to stop this! LOL

Gracie

Actually that brug is "sunset" I do have Maya.. it hasnt bloomed yet, it got kicked in the trunk by spider mites this year early when I wasnt around. But its coming back strong. I have some small gold and a few pink brugs rooted if anyone is looking for one.


Chris

Sorry, Chris, that you were not able to join us. We were all looking forward to meeting you and sharing some fun!

I will add to the "You know you are a gardener if .... thread" our adventure in finding the Queen Caterpillars on the fennel at Maggie's. My caterpillar seems to have decided to go into chrysalis this morning. Yesterday was spent in a frantic search to find more fennel. I thought I had bought two fennel plants -- one with cat and one as back-up food source if it ate up the first plant entirely. By yesterday morning, it had eaten the first plant to the stubby stems. I searched all around but couldn't find where I had placed the backup fennel in a 4 " pot. I called Sugarweed to see if I could buy her fennel, which she sweetly brought over to me, but her fennel was also mostly eaten and didn't take long for the caterpillar to finish off. I drove all around last night with the quest of finding fresh fennel. After about 5 stops at grocery stores and other possible venues for fresh herbs, I finally found a huge fennel stalk (about the size of a typical celery stalk) at Wal-Mart for $2.99. I rushed home with it and put some of the fresh fennel leaves immediately into my makeshift cat hatchery. Some of the leaves had been eaten by this morning, but I think the cat may have reached its fill or maybe the lack of food for a few hours triggered the pupation. Today, the cat is clinging to one of the fennel stems only at its head and tail (the feet are off the stem). It is not dead because it did a little spasmodic lurch when I moved the jar to get some photos, which are below.

This first pix is of my cat hatchery, quickly assembled with available items found around my house when I arrived home Saturday evening after our day of nursery raiding.

I used a large glass vase big enough to hold the 4" pot and allow space for the fennel leaves, a section of red toile I just happened to have handy from a previous stage decor project, and a huge rubber band to hold the toile on as a breathable lid.

Jeremy

And here is a blurry close-up, the best I can get with my digital camera, of the cat in what I hope is the first stage of pupation.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

In my few readings of Cats and eating of fennel, I saw that fennel is related to parsley. In future, maybe you might offer up some parsley for snacks. Certainly it's a lot easier to find in its nature state than fennel. I have 2 green and 2 bronze fennel plants growing in my herb garden and the cats have had lots of meals off them.

I hope when I was up to see yall in May that I left you with the small 4 inch pot of fennel. My next batch from seed after that failed.

I just put a new batch in on Sunday, so hoping for more.
Maybe when I come by your place in September I'll have more for you.

Molly
:^))))

Hey, Molly. I wondered if there was some other herb that the cat might eat. It is good to know about the parsley as an alternative to fennel. Wouldn't you know -- after my frantic search for fennel, I found the second plant that I had bought this morning, sitting beside my whiskey barrel fountain/fish pond. I knew I had it and despite my searching high and low for it, it didn't show up until I didn't need it anymore. Murphy's Law in full operation, I suppose. And now I have a refrigerator full of fresh fennel from the stalk I bought at Wal-Mart! Anybody have any good fennel recipes?! LOL

The cat is definitely pupating! The chrysalis has formed. I'll get some day by day pix, if possible, so we can all share in the process of becoming a Queen butterfly. I need to search for a photo of the Queen as I am unfamiliar with that species.

Jeremy

Good deal Jeremy,

I don't have the bulb fennel, but the foliage type and I always throw some in the soup pot when I'm in the mood to cook. I also throw in any other herbs that need trimming back. Soups are always full of surprise flavors at my house.

Molly
:^)))

Jeremy,

Here's a link to a photo to answer your question.
http://www.beeville.net/Nature/indexButterflies.htm

Maggie