Thursday, July 31, 2014

In the Garden: Butterflies and a Melon


We got ONE casaba melon - just one, but oh my goodness, it is huge!  It's a cantaloupe-type melon, but the size of a watermelon.  The plants set so many fruits and they were all tragically destroyed by the awful melon borer moths.  I hate those things!  They migrate through and can be avoided, but I managed to plant the melons to ripen just after they came through this year, so I lost almost everything.  It was so tragic.  I might have cried about it if I wasn't so darn exhausted this year.  It wasn't the sweetest melon, but it was fine-tasting.


In the native plant garden the Florida hibiscus is blooming at last.  




And along the fences the passion fruits are setting fruit.


There were also some visitors - Gulf Frittilary butterflies.  Their white patches shine like silver spangles in the sunshine.  They have been leaving....



Caterpillars!  It's technically part of the butterfly garden, so I am not minding them so much.  That's what the host plants are for.  They are so dramatically spiky.  

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