Our guest next to Zippy’s hand for scale.
I spent the afternoon working in the yard in preparation for the winter storm and below-freezing temperatures on the way. I cut back perennials and chopped up greens to add to our two compost tumblers and standing bin. Zippy joined me after his bike ride and made the plants from his vegetable garden compost-ready. As he stood over the bin and chopped up tomato plants, he discovered a guest he’d been dreading all summer: a tomato hornworm.
He showed me and said his friend had told him that hornworms turned into swallowtail butterflies. That didn’t sound right so I checked. In fact, tomato hornworms turn into the five-spotted hawkmoth. Either way, that’s quite the transformation. (I do think it’s kinda too bad the horn gets lost along the way.)
Winter storm and below freezing temps!? Is it early in the season for this kind of weather?
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It’s not unheard of here in Colorado. We can have some severe temperature swings which are hard on trees and shrubs. That happened several springs ago and we lost a lot of trees and shrubs in the neighborhood. I’m hoping that won’t happen again.
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Wow! That IS an impressive transformation. I’ve found a few ladybirds in our tomato plants, but nothing like that.
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HA! I had to look up “ladybirds” and discovered they are also known as “ladybugs.” I had this image of a well-dressed, prim and proper bird hanging out in your tomato plants…
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Brrr… it’s chilly today!
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Indeed. I am so very grateful to be inside and warm. Hope you’re keeping warm, too!
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