Garden

When I was barely able to walk, I became fascinated with the garden. My Dad was the gardener in our family, growing both flowers and vegetables. When I was 5, he finally let me help him plant a row of flowers. He showed me how to make the straight furrow in the middle of the annual flower bed. (He planted all the rest of the bed afterwards.) I was very precise in filling the row with seeds, carefully covering each with fine soil. Then I watered them tenderly and waited day by day for any sign that things were growing.

Well, sorry to report that Fred did not survive. Found a lifeless little lump at the top of the pot one day and realized Fred was gone.

Never will know what Fred looked like in the moth stage and will also never know why he did not make it. But he was an interesting little thing while he was here.

Well, after wondering about chrysalis versus cocoon, I read more on the lifecycle of the Tobacco Harn Worm. Turns out their pupa don't seem to be either! They are just brown to brown-reddish pupa. But the more interesting part is that these pupae form in soil. Once the larva has grown big enough and fed enough (as evidence clearly with Fred), they drop to the ground and dig in a little bit. Then they transform into the pupa. That, in turn, goes through the metamorphosis stage, eventually become the Sphinx Moth.

So Fred has only been in his cage for around 42 hours and he has already eaten thru two dozen leaves! He is really a poop machine as he processes this stuff. I've had to dump his droppings several times now from the cage. So he does create quite the amount of fertilizer for his size. (Hhmmmm how many of you have walked thru your garden barefoot? Just think about that for a moment.....)

Meet the new "pet".  His name is Fred (maybe it should be Marguerite??? I can't tell!)