Ya just never know what you are going to find when you weed and prune your gardens.....
Today I found some woolly bear cats on my Lemon Thyme. I didn't know they used that plant as a host. There were at least 6 of them on the plant just munching away. That was a surprise! My herb garden is turning out to be quite the host garden! Who would've ever guessed?
They are so cute. I can see how they got their name. Does anyone know how big the cats get? These are tiny right now. Here's one curled up into a ball on my palm. Too bad the moth (Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella) is a rather plain looking moth.
And today I also saw another Sulphur cat on my cassia alata plant. It was green this time instead of yellow. I guess they are yellow when they eat the blooms and green when they eat the leaves. Or .... maybe this is another species of Sulphur butterfly?
No Becky, you are correct. Green when eat leaves and yellow with flowers. Read it in Florida Butterfly book.
Received all the seeds today!!! Wow, I am going to have to do some research. Many are new to me. Thanks!
Karen - Thanks for clarifying the cat colors! I wasn't sure if it was the same species or a different cat/buttefly.
Oh good Karen! Glad you got the seeds. Hope you can use most of them! :-) :-)
Oh, I just love the wooly bears! :) I've only had yellow ones. The dark ones do make you think of little bears. Congrats on the new sulphur too! You've just got more than enough going on in your garden. I'm tired just reading about it all!
Paige - Yellow woolly bears? Really! Are they the same Moth? Do they have a stripe of another color on them, too? I didn't know. How interestingl
They are Virginian Tiger moths. Too cute! I love how the little moths look like they are wearing fur coats!
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/28359379
oh you are so lucky Becky. We have gotten enough cold to kill everything off.
Paige - Awwww they are SOOOOOO cute!!! They almost look snuggly! :-)
Donna - Believe me ....this is VERY unusual weather in my zone for winter. Usually it is in the 60's not the 80's during the day and 40's not 65 and up at night. I am really wondering if I will be getting any kind of winter this year. I don't know how many of the plants in my yard need a rest during winter to thrive come Spring and Summer.
This message was edited Jan 21, 2007 9:44 PM
oh, I want one....so cute!!!
Here's another photo of the Sulpher cat. It looks so different from the yellow Sulpher cats a couple months ago. And it seems to be much bigger. Almost as long as my pointer finger. Today when I went out to look at it, it was gone. Probably crawled off somewhere to become a chrysalis.
Oops! I meant to post this photo not the other one.
Ohhh, he's cool! I've got my Cassia/Senna seeds in a baggie now waiting on them to germinate. I hope I get to see something new this year!
All the Sulpher cats in my yard the past couple months have only been using my little cassia alata plant as a host, not my small Privet Cassia tree. Apparently the mama butterflies like the alata better. But I like the tree as it seems to grow pretty fast and makes a dappled shade for all the plants below it. The alata seems to be more of a bush than a tree. So I will probably group the Privet and Alata along with my wild lime bush and my hercules club bush together in a bed somewhere in the middle of my backyard. I may put the Pawpaw in their too. Not sure. What do you all think???? I need to figure out a place for all of these bush and tree host plants.
I never get tired of seeing the wonderful array of Butterflies you have there Becky.... just fabulous! Can't wait to see those flying around!
My alata is a bush. It flowered just fine but didn't produce seeds. Maybe it has to be 2 years old to do that?
I have a very small pawpaw in a container. It has 5 leaves. Supposedly it doesn't like full sun so I will move it to a shadier place in the spring.
By the way, Becky, do you know what the last frost date is here?
What do you two consider a bush? (pics?) My C. alata's are always more tree-like, to me. They get tall and don't really spread out, just up. ? I've got one inside that I dug up before the freeze so I'd have a head start. It's looking a little weak but it's growing. Not sure what it's problem is but I think I'll repot it today just to make sure it has room. (it's going to be in the 60's here!)
The seeds I have started are your Privet. This one looks like a bush to me.
To me, a tree has one main trunk and a bush has many shoots from the ground and spreads out over the top.
Karen - I was wondering that myself. No I do not know what date is considered the last frost date. I wonder if there is a website somewhere we could find out that info? Also, both of my Pawpaws dropped all their leaves. Their small trunk and stems are still flexible, so I am assuming they are still alive. (I sure hope so!) I think they are decidious and drop their leaves in winter.
Deb - I think this crazy weather we've been having in Florida has all our butterflies completely off schedule. I know the Great Southern Whites and probably the Sulphers don't usually show up here until March. The weather has dipped quite a bit over the last two days. Lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's. But it's not freezing temps, so hopefully they will all be okay. I know they are not warm-blooded like us, but it is sure cold in the mornings and late evenings here right now. I bet they can't wait for the sun to come up! lol
Paige - I would imagine that you could train either one of the Privet or Alata cassia plants to be a tree or a bush. What I do if I want a tree is to snip off all the extra stems and branches around the base of the one I want to keep and then eliminate any branches coming off the trunk up to the height that I want it to branch out as a tree. If I want a bush, I pinch the tips of the new growth on the branches to get it to produce more branches. I'm sure you already knew that! lol
That's weird because any time I've grown the C. alata it's always just one trunk, not multiple. The one I have in the house is just one long tall trunk. I wonder if it's the temperature difference? Maybe I even have the name wrong? (it's always been called a Candle tree) I got my first one from a nursery and then the last few years have been from seeds. The seeds take a long time to germinate tho because they always come up late so they really have a pretty short growing season. They are annuals here too. I wonder if they had a longer season if they would start putting up suckers/shoots??
I was trying to find a pic of the largest tree I had, which was 2 years ago, but didn't have one of the trunk. But I did find one that I don't remember having! I think this means my chances of having some Sulphurs this year should be good! I remember looking for cats but never found any. I don't think I knew then that those wasps would eat them.
Well, maybe what I have is NOT the C. alata. How do you tell?
Beats me! LOL! ?? Google? Mine always have very large leaves. They just get bigger and bigger as it grows. Does yours?
Mine has small leaves and is definitely a bush. See photo.
I have the same one Becky does.
Hmmmm .... maybe we are talking about two different varieties of cassia/senna? Deb - Any ideas on this ID dilemma?
See how big the leaves are in my picture? They start out like yours but they grew really big, which makes for good cat food! Do your leaves ever get that big? Looks like we are going to have to do some research. In the meantime, do you have any seeds from that one of yours? :)
No my leaves stay pretty small, maybe 2" long and 1/2' wide.
Paige - I don't know if the leaves on my cassia will get bigger as the plant gets bigger. There is one solitary seed pod on it. Hopefully the seed pod will survive the cold temps we are supposed to have tonight and tomorrow night. (Low 40's.)
This is funny .... I was looking at the Wooly Bears again today. They have different color patterns. I assumed they were all like the original photo I posted at the beginning of this thread. Mostly all black with a little brown strip. But this one has all brown with a black stripe.
And this one is brown with a black stripe near it's head and another black stripe near it's bottom.
Whatever their color, I just love them!
Becky and Karen, I was just looking at the site that Cat posted for host plants and think maybe I see our Cassia's. You two have the one with smaller leaves that is bush-like and looks like the pic on the left of the C. bicapsularis. I have the one that has larger leaves and more like a tree and it looks like the pic on the right of the C. alata. What do you two think?
http://butterfliesetc.com/cassia1.php
The C. bicapsularis, Christmas Cassia, is the one I've been wanting! I discovered one at our Botanic Gardens this last year and have been waiting to collect seeds. I tried about a month ago but they were too green but I went back this last week and collected a bunch of pods! woohoo! :) I'm going to try to start some today.
That's most interesting, Paige! I didn't know the difference between the cassia bushes and the cassia trees! I definitely have the bush variety. Glad you were able to get a bunch of seed pods! You go girl!
When I pick up the plants from one of my local nurseries, they never have the entire botanical name on them, so I usually don't know what they are other than their common name (which most varieties go by). Good eye there, Paige. I never even looked at those plant photos. They are so small on the website that I just assumed they were the same variety of the Cassia.
The Christmas Cassia (easier to spell) is very delicate and so pretty! I fell in love with it's little yellow flowers, took pics and started researching to find out what it was. That's usually how something ends up in my yard. It has a feature that attracts me. :)
Oh, that is something I've never thought of actually. If they are different from the "tree" that I have that is just an annual, then these might be perennial here too. I have no idea where I'll plant these bushes tho!
Paige, I have mine growing in pots that I can bring in if it does get to freezing temps. I don't think they are hardy. Mine seem to like the pots. Of which I will be transplanting to a larger container very soon!
But then where will I put the pots?! lol I need more space! I'll have to go back and see how this bush at the Botanic Gardens does when spring rolls in. I should have snapped a little twig to see if it was green inside. It didn't look like it was totally dead tho. ? Another good excuse to go back!
Do you have room in your front yard by the walkway or driveway to put some pots of these bushes? I love container gardening cause I can move them all over the yard until I find a spot to create the look I want.
I don't! I have a small walkway to the door, which is usually already packed with things. I always hope it will annoy people coming to my door too. lol If I really want to keep them away I just move the big pot the Brugs is in right in front. LOL
LOL! My giant Porterweed makes people nervous when they come to the front door. It almost grabs you as you walk by. Though I don't think it's the plant that scares visitors, it's the bees and butterflies all over it that make visitors nervous! LOL
Love it!
Well, looks like you are just going to have to make room somewhere for the cassia bush to go in the yard! Maybe there will be an area that plants don't return in the Spring ..... though, looking at photos of your yard .... I think most all of your plants probably love it there! Decisions, decisions!
I wish I lived on a few acres, not a typical lot. Boy! Could I go crazy then! That would be my dream. Even one acre would be heaven! lol
