This is why we don't mow the Meadow!

We went outside after supper and wandered in the Meadow, where we watched butterflies. Dragonflies. Damselflies. So much going on! Then I happened to spy something yellow in the grass. A sulphur? Well, sorta. A banded argiope had caught it on her web! Low in the grass, the spider had spun her orbweb. Awesome.

You could barely see her in the grass. She blended in well.

Across the Meadow, we spotted another argiope on her web! She was just about to nab a moth, but it got away. Good for the moth but not for the spider. 

AND THEN, I happened to look down and spy....this COOL COOL COOL caterpillar! James spotted a second, then I saw a third. Back in the house, James looked through our caterpillar field guide and figured out that they're a white-lined sphinx moth species (Hyles lineata). We'd never seen a caterpillar like it before. Naturally, I told Peyton, our seventh-grade neighbor who LOVES caterpillars, about this species!

 

James agrees that it's better NOT to mow (except for a few walking paths) the Meadow. So much life has a place to live life when we don't!

More butterflies and flying things!

Gulf fritillary

Orange sulphur

White-checkered skipper

Phaon crescent

Ceraunus blue (this was a TINY butterfly!)

Mystery

American lady

Phaon crescent

American snout

Little mystery

Grass grass grass

James is helping me out today by identifying the grasses in our Meadow. I call him my "Grass Man"........

Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula var. curtipendula)

Silver bluestem (Bothriochloa laguroides ssp. torreyana)

King Ranch bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica)

Texas signalgrass (Urochloa texana)

Shortspike windmillgrass (Chloris subdolichostachya)

Reverchon bristlegrass (Setaria reverchonii)

Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides)

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium)

Tumble lovegrass (Eragrostis sessilispica)

Hairyseed paspalum (Paspalum pubiflorum)

Plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia)

Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides)

Fall blooms, bees and butterflies

The damianta is blooming again!

The bees are all over the Mexican bush sage.

And the 'Indigo Spires' salvia, too.

The mealycup sage and four-nerve daisy are blooming again.

The white mistflower is in full force.

So it is blue mistflower. Here's a monarch.

A red admiral (my favorite butterfly species).

A Gulf fritillary.

A sulphur species.

A new wildflower in the Meadow! Amazing what pops up when you don't mow!

White heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

From a distance, the asters are pretty, too.

In the Meadow, the prairie verbena hasn't given up yet.

False ragweed

The purple milkweed in the Meadow is still going to seed.

Purple bindweed

The pentas and zinnias that James planted still look great.

Look at our turk's cap in the back yard! Reds, pinks and whites are all in bloom.

Our friends, Charles and Rachelle, gave us this 'Confetti' lantana last summer. It's just growing and blooming up a storm.

Last but not least, the Texas betony is giving a beautiful last show of blooms for fall. Thank you for everything, O' Wondrous Wildscape of ours!

One friendly insect

Meet my friend, an eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons). It was overly friendly last night when we were sitting outside and even landed on my nose. I just let it be, and we got along fine.