Tales from the Garden

Investigating egg-laying locations Soon after the ladybugs-and-aphids experience I wrote about last month, I was able to witness the entire life cycle of another interesting insect:   Gulf Fritillary butterflies!   Ever since moving to Arivaca, I’ve seen the adults of this species fluttering through my garden and feeding on many of the flowers there.   But because Uno and I have left Arivaca in May during previous years, I'd never gotten to see any of their eggs, caterpillars, or cocoons (aka chrysalis).   I had learned that these beautiful orange butterflies prefer to lay all their eggs on a Passion Vine so that their caterpillars can feed on its leaves, and in previous springs I had been happy to see Passion Vine starts popping up all around my studio porch… so after we decided to extend our stay in Arivaca this year into the summer months, I became excited about getting to see the result.   Sure enough, as soon as the Passion Vines got tall enough ...