Tropical milkweed: The news is not good

Sounds like I'll soon be pulling plants in our gardens: "Plan to save monarch butterflies backfires."

Lost Ladybug Project

Another ladybug for the Lost Ladybug Project, found inside our house the day after Christmas. It's a non-native multicolored Asian ladybug (Harmonia axyridis). Since 2009, I have contributed beetle images to the Lost Ladybug Project. Of the eight different species I've documented, seven have been found in our Wildscape. Cool!

Christmas blessings from all of us!

This morning, I opened our front door and found a gift bag looped over the door knob. A present! Inside, I found two beautiful Christmas pot holders made by our friends Linda and Rosemary (they're sisters). Then at the very bottom of the bag, I spotted.....YES....a beautiful CHRISTMAS jumping spider! Well, no, that's not her real name. But she does have lovely red spots on her abdomen. From what I can figure, she's a bold jumping spider. Though she wasn't too cooperative, I did manage to get a few photos of her before I let her go outside. 

So anyway, have a wonderful Christmas, y'all! Everyone here at this Texas Wildscape wishes you the very, very BEST!

Winter colors

My little point-and-shoot camera and I ventured outside this afternoon and found lots of winter color. Some of the photos aren't my best. But oh, well. Above: leadwort plumbago. Pretty!

Three-lobed rudbeckia

Common dandelion

'May Night' salvia

Wood sorrel

Fragrant sumac

Chile pequin

'Amazon' dianthus

Mountain mint

Coral honeysuckle

Green milkweed vine

Turk's cap

Another turk's cap fruit

Fragrant mistflower

Purple hearts

Bees work in the winter, too!

Green lichen

Queen on fragrant mistflower

Butterfly bonding

Lost Ladybug Project

I found this ladybug yesterday afternoon in a wheelbarrow filled with rainwater. I thought for sure it had drowned. But nope, it was still alive! Picture, please, for the Lost Ladybug Project. Then I set it free on a milkweed loaded with aphids. Meet a parenthesis ladybug (Hippodamia parenthesis), a native species. Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis).
 
Check out this LLP contribution here.

A walk in the Wildscape

I headed out the back door and spotted this handsome wolf man. But, alas, he's missing a leg and likely passing soon.

We've been gone a lot lately. Then rains kept us inside, and I had deadlines to finish. So today was the first time I'd strolled through our Wildscape in a long, long while. GLORIOUS! WONDERFUL! I love nature so much.

This is a new butterfly species to me. Meet this pretty long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus).

A puss caterpillar! (Also called an asp.) First one I've ever spotted in our gardens. DON'T TOUCH! 

A banded argiope that I just happened to spot!

Look, a Gulf fritillary child!

Can you find her? The orbweaver?

I spotted this dapper jumping spider guy and took a bunch of photos. You can almost see his little spider brain working as he crawls atop the chain link fence. ANT!

 

I had to share some photos of the coreopsis that's growing quite happily in a rock! There's a life lesson there somewhere...