More pipevine

What's left of our original pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata)

Two weekends ago, a new hatch of pipevine caterpillars devoured what was left of our pipevine plants in the Meadow. They're still alive, and you can barely see a new sprout in the upper left quadrant of the photo above. This nonnative species is very resilient. In June 2009, we planted three. But we didn't attract any caterpillars until this summer. I wanted to run and buy more after the caterpillars finished off the leaves, but the Natural Gardener didn't have any in stock. A nice lady said she could take my phone number and call when some came in. A few days later, Eric from the nursery called and said they had pipevine plants. So we drove into Austin last Friday and purchased two.


Last night, we got nearly an inch of rain. So James planted the vines this morning. Perfect timing!

BIG ant!

Or is it?

What do you think?

Get the answer here.

A new betony

For a few weeks, we'd been noticing this little "weed" growing happily in patches across the back yard. But I mostly ignored it until curiosity got the best of me. I took some photos and got some closer looks...hmmm, the flowers looked familiar...like henbit. More so, Texas betony! So I pulled out a field guide...nada. On to the Wildflower Center's database...bingo! I think we've got mousesear, also commonly called shade betony (Stachys crenata).

Meet a beetle

James found this long-horned beetle (probably an oak borer, Enaphalodes sp.*) in the house yesterday while he was dusting. I wasn't too surprised. I'd heard something either bumping around or chomping somewhere under our bed lately. Now I know what it was!

* Bugguide.net: "My guess would be a Enaphalodes atomaurius based on the diffuse pubescence pattern on the elytra and the bispinose elytra. Based on the length of the antennae, you're probably looking at a female."

June 2012 in our Wildscape

 

Stock tank update

Today, the dwarf water lily bloomed again. And the lily fronds nearly cover the entire surface now! I never get tired of looking at our pond.

A fly and a fish

I grabbed my camera this morning and got ONE shot of this fierce-looking insect, which landed on our chain-link fence with breakfast. I think it was eating a bee. From what I can tell, I believe it's a robber fly species, perhaps the red-footed cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes). A new one to me!

Awhile ago, I tried and tried to snap some photos of my gambusia kids in the stock tank pond. But they're FAST.