#nursery diary

What have I been up to lately?

You know, the usual.

So here’s something kinda funky I noticed the other week. These aloe leaves are growing in flat. Not deflated, like they need water. Just…flat. Mutation or….?

More winter shots from the heated hoophouse

Stalked Bulbine (Bulbine frutescens)

‘Early Amethyst’ Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma)

We raised a pair of Variegated Fritillary caterpillars (Euptoieta claudia) at work for fun and they eclosed today! They have super cool chrysalises.

Hoya flowers!

So I found this cocoon unburied in one of the liner pots because (what I assume was) a deer got into the hoop house, tore a bunch of my cuttings out, ate the leaves and left the stems. A whole nursery of plants to munch on, and you go for my babies. Rude.

Knowing these guys like to pupate underground, I filled a smaller pot with soil and reburied it just under the surface, and literally the next day this guy emerges!

This is a Broad-Bordered Bee Hawkmoth (Hemaris fuciformis). It took a couple of hours to dry its wings and had taken off by the time I got back from my lunch break. What a treat!

Anyway here’s the aforementioned deer damage. I mean. Good to see they’re rooting.

I replanted them. They’ll be fine.

Probably.

Was putting labels in liners, felt something crawling on my head, slowly reached up and—

Mantis.

Carolina Mosquito Fern (Azolla sp.)