Babysitting Broccoli

November is supposed to be cooler than summer, although you wouldn't know that lately; a couple of weeks ago, it was in the 80's in San Diego.

Then we got some rain, which is very helpful.

When I took these pictures of Cindy's square foot garden frame, I didn't realize that only some of the veggies that were sprouting were ours; the ones in the white plastic trays belong to a neighbor and fellow Master Gardener who was going on vacation for a couple of weeks.  Since he was afraid they would all die while he was gone, Cindy volunteered to babysit them for him, and they did very well.  He gave us some of the plants when he retrieved them, so we'll have plenty of winter veggies.

Who knew broccoli needed babysitting?  

Herding Caterpillars

Many Monarchs

We've been complaining all summer about not seeing any Monarch caterpillars, but in the last couple of weeks we've seen a number of Monarchs, but also the Giant Swallowtail caterpillar on the citrus and an Anise Swallowtail caterpillar on the parsley.

The Monarchs are all over the Asclepia plant that came up as a volunteer in the corner of the big raised bed in the back yard, but they don't seem to be able to find a good place to form their chrysalises.

The first one evidently crawled along the top of the panels until it came to the farthest corner of the bed, then went out on the twist tie that keeps the panels together to form its chrysalis.

Really?

We put a couple of stakes across the top of the panels to give the others a little more solid place to attach, but did they do that?  Nooooooo, not one of them has used it.

A Little Help?  

The second one crawled completely out of the bed and ended up attaching to the bottom of one of the patio posts.

So when we saw the third one busily crawling along the pathway in the general direction of the patio and tried to climb up the side of the water tank, we decided to try to encourage it to find a better place to attach.

No, Not There!

We finally got it on one of the blueberry bushes, where it curled into its "J" shape and formed its chrysalis.

Finally Found A Place

So we'll see if any of them hatch out successfully.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Giant Swallowtail 

My friend Kris found a butterfly lying in middle of the street one morning, apparently dead.  It was a cool morning and some butterflies will go dormant if the temperature is too low, so she picked it up and placed it in the sun, where it eventually revived, tested its wings and flew off.

She sent me a picture of it and asked if I knew what kind of butterfly it was. Thanks to our handy dandy Butterflies of Southern California guide, we identified it as a Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes.

Yesterday Cindy came in with a leaf from one of the citrus trees with an incredibly ugly creature on it.  We weren't sure at first whether it was a worm, a slug or a caterpillar, but thanks to the same butterfly guide by Jim Brock, we identified it as the larval stage of the Giant Swallowtail.

Citrus trees are the host plant for this butterfly, and the larva are well camouflaged as citrus twigs or branches as they devour the leaves.

Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar

We carefully placed the caterpillar back on the citrus tree so it can continue to munch its way along toward metamorphosis.

It's amazing that something so ugly can turn into a beautiful butterfly.

Caterpillar on Citrus Leaves

Photograph of Giant Swallowtail copyright Kristin Shipley, used by permission.  All other photographs copyright Kay Teeters.  All rights reserved.

Perfect Gardening Attire

Ghillie Suit

I think I've finally found the perfect gardening attire for the resident Master Gardener.

It's a ghillie suit, and there's absolutely no way she could get it dirty, so I would never have to wash it.  Dirt or leaves on it would just add to the general effect.

Might itch a bit, though.