I had the most incredible morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been hunting Orange Dogs and Red-spotted Purple cats for years. We have had much needed rain 4 of the last 5 days which is enough now lol. I was wandering around looking and decided to check the 3 citrus tree around the place. First 2 nothing and didn't see anything on the 3rd either. I was bummed. Then a saw a small dead branch I was going to take off. Lo and behold what do I have here. The camoflauge was incredible. I have not 1 but 4 huge Orange Dogs on the Moro Blood Orange yipee!!!!!!!!!!!! Next I decided to wander to the back side of the pond again to check the willow tree and what do I find but 2 Red-spotted Purple cats on one branch. I snapped it off and brought it back to the house and put it in a cage. Then out taking hibiscus pics I saw what I thought was a huge bee on my cuphea and it was a Hummingbird Clearwing. Now how can you have a better day than this. One of the most enjoyable days I have had in years

Orange Dog pic 2

Red-spotted Purple cat

RSP 2

RSP3

RSP4

Hummingbird Clearwing

HCW2

last one HCW3

now if I can just find a Luna Moth I will be the happiest woman in the world

Congrats Donna! Lunas are becoming rare even in these parts...I've only seen one all summer.

oops forgot the OD chrysalis I found attached the the vinyl siding by the tree

Ooooh la la!! Neat O!!! Great pictures!!! You should post some of those pictures in the new BugFiles!!!

PiggyPoo :0)

I am working on it Lorri, putting them in garden terms. Back hurt to bad last night to sit at puter for long. I already did a bunch the other night. Is bug files something different???

Well I'm jealous! I am still watching and anxiously waiting for some Swallowtail cats to appear on my citrus. I've seen no RSP cats on our willow yet, only one adult was around earlier this summer. I did get some pics of two different Hummingbird Clearwings this season so far and have raised and released one HCW cat. I am fixing to raise and release my second Gulf Fritillary of the summer.

Thanks for sharing!!

Incidentally, the Bug Files is a whole new DG thing.

Here is the link to the Bug Files:

http://davesgarden.com/bf/

well hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Terry ask me to put them in Garden Terms lol

Great for you Donna. Glad to see another wildlife habitat in the making. You must have eyes like a hawk, I can't see a darn thing, including cats on my brugs.

Is the clearwing a hummingbird moth? I never got close enough to really see one.

As for Luna Moths, I adore them, especially their ferny antennas. I have noticed them when I leave my kitchen light on at night. It's 2 stories up back there but they come to those windows every year. Seeing Melody's post, now I finally know what use a sweetgum tree is, lol, I have way too many here. I hate to think of them disappearing :(

I have tons of the SweetGum to but still haven't seen one yet. Also it is so dark out here in the country. I haven't seen many moths. I leave the porch light on untill I go to bed only because it shine in our bedroom french doors. Think I will start putting on the florida room lights. It puts light out into the yard and maybe I can attract something lol, the porch light only lights the porch since it is by the frontdoor.

Try it, it's dark here too. I know I see them late at nite, keep checking but gone by early, early am. Have just seen 2 this year. One good thing for sleepless nites, lol. Can never get a shot without flash on the window--I'll leave it to you...

Oh Donna! That is so exciting! I'm beginning to think this is not going to be
a good butterfly year here. I've had quite a few spicebush swallowtails, and a few gulf frits and tiger swallowtails, but no large numbers. Last year and the year before the air was just thick with them.

Your pictures are outstanding as usual! For a blind woman you sure do see well! LOL You know I'm kidding. I don't know how you find those little suckers.

'See you next week I hope!

Kay

Gaylams,

I've noticed the same thing as far as much lower numbers this year. the previous year at least was much better here in Jax. the year before i was too busy wiuth storms to notice.

Maggie

Donna, your pictures are incredible!! Lucky Lucky you!!

I would be thrilled to see a Luna moth, I'll never give up!!!

Oh me either! That's one of the things I'm still waiting for, a live Luna moth!

LOOOOVE your cool cats Donna!!! Awesome! Love the green in that first pic! Those horns on that OD are scary! Yay for you!!

Love the clearwing too! I happened to be out taking pics recently and was so happy to see one too!

great shot KK those little buggers are fast. I bet I took 50 shots and only got a few fair ones lol

I so lucked out! I was aiming at something else and it flew right in front of me. I was ready and already focused. It was a happy dance moment.

'Didn't have a camera with me, it was too dark, and I would not have had enough hands anyway, but I gotta tell you what just happened.

I had plucked a brug flower to compare to some others that were blooming. A hummingbird moth (don't remember the right name for them) just insisted on getting all the way in it while it was in my hand. LOL!

Those are really nice shots, Donna. I rarely see cats, I don't think I know what to look for. lol.
Those hummingbird moths are a challenge all right, I missed every one last year.
Last week I got my first, it was deep inside a hosta flower.
It's not a particularly great shot, but it's a shot.
Andy P

oh how neat Kay. Don't you love those kind of surprises?? I had a hummer beating the heck out of 2 of my chcikadees this afternoon. Guess he figured they were to close to his feeder. He chased them from the tree at the florida room all the way round and round then off to the edge of the woods. I was cracking up

oh that's a good shot Andy. iguess that's why I never saw the cat because i never knew for sure what I was looking for. Most of them were way up the tree partially hidden. I can see them now that i know what I am looking for. As my hubbie would say. If it was a snake it would have bitten you lol

Great story about the Brugs. Too bad you couldn't take a pic but then you wouldn't have had the experience. I sure want my Brugs to bloom but it's just so high maintenance. Requiring daily water and fertilizer is too much when I have so many others to tend to also. If I ever get more free time I need to get over to that forum and learn how to handle it.

Great shot Andy! That's a hosta flower? I didn't even know they had blooms, especially like that! Not much shade here!

KK listen to me. I have been growing brugs for 10 years. Mine get slow release fertilizer when they go into the ground and just maybe once over summer I walk by and throw throw a handful. Next spring pull out the trusty huge flat tipped screw drive and drive it down the lenght in 4 place around the brug. fill hole with slow release fertilizer. Your done for the year. Depending on the soil you are growing in unless it is very dry you probably water more than necessary. I don't care where you live. They are going to wilt in the heat of the day. If they don't perk up in the evening then they need a good deep soaking. Deep soaking twice a week is better than lightly watering everyday. You only need to deep soak twice a week as a rule under normal conditions if they are in the ground. Now pots need it every other day unless they are rootbound then you'll have to water daily. I just put the sprinkler in a area for 30 minute then move to the next. No big hassles. My brugs grow just as big and bigger than people that give them way to much kindness. Monster Brug gets 15' wide x 12 to 15' high each season and gets loaded with near 300 blooms at a time. My best advice is to plant them on the east, southeast to north northeast side of your house where they have protection from direct south and west sun in the hottest part of the day and they will thrive with little bother to you

Thanks for the advice! Mine is in a pot and probably does need to be repotted. It wilts and will stay wilted unless I water it daily. I have given it a little bit of some Bayer fertilizer that has some stuff in it for spider mites but it didn't do anything for it. I only use that on this one plant too because it's not in the ground.

I fell in LOVE with a Brugs that I saw at an old plantation in LA. It was like Feb. one year, freezing, and I had on a leather coat and it was full of huge yellow blooms. I would so love to have a huge bush like that but I do not have the space. I don't even have a place out of the sun for it! The only place that I have that gets any shade is the back of my house that faces N/NE. The one side on the S/SE is a steep sloping area into a "swale" and I can't plant on it. Everything else gets full sun or late afternoon sun.

I was actually considering putting it in the bed against the house where I currently have a Japanese Maple. I got it from my parents last year because it wasn't doing too good at their house (although all others do) but a big part of it died. I've been waiting for fall to prune it but I might just dig it up and move it out of that bed and plant my brugs there. Wow, that is really a good idea now that I think about it. I'll let you know.

to get rid of spider mites. stretch your water hose out in the full sun. In the middle of the afternoon when the water is very hot in it blast all the leaves , the stalk, and the top of the dirt in the pot. Keep all debris out of the pot. Do this every day for a week and they will be gone. Make sure to get under the leaves to. It worked for me.

KK, That Hosta is in full sun. It's a variegated one and can take our northern sun. This one actually does better in the sun than shade for me.
Andy P

It's really cool. I imagine that it would have to have full shade here. Sun here hot and full sun is referred to like being in hell for some plants. lol

KK, I know. I've been to Texas in the Summer. It's way hotter than here. LOL
Andy P

Orange dogs?? giant swallowtail cats.. right? great shots Donna

yes that is it Trish

What did you do to get him to stick those out at you? I have one GST cat inside and when I went out to get him more food the other day I found a huge one. He got to come inside too. I haven't made him mad enough to do that at me, yet. :)