Yeah, I'm with ya now! Buds'll do it every time. As for leaf morphology, can we agree there is variability? Shagbark and shellbark hickory up in these parts are quite rounded. Both white and green ash are middling, and black ash is narrow. But the trees don't read the books, and sometimes they exhibit their own idea of how they should present themselves. Truth is, if I couldn't tell one from the other out in the field, it would def. be time to find a new job. But in such cases as that, the whole tree is being viewed, sort of like how some guys can see a car coming down the road from three blocks away and say it's a Ford or whatever. They're not looking at the fine details but rather, the whole picture. This is how I-and I would guess most of you-ID trees 90% of the time. +oM

Wow thats a gorgeous moth! I will have to keep an eye on the cat. I am not really harassing it to much I just rotated the leaves to get the pics : ). If it eats my whole mallow I have another I can move it to. It looks like you raised that cat to an adult Miss Sherry. I used to do that as a kid and haven't thought to try it again. I bet you get fabulous pics. I have to much habitat improvment to do at the moment but eventually I will have time. Thanks. You seem to be a fount of knowledge. Kate

I looked there, couldn't find anything. Those pics are all later instar stages. I got a better look at him. He's a greyish, one end narrow, the other bulbous. Has 2 yellow "eye" stripes on the narrow end. And lighter stripes along his body. And I think I might see a hint of hair.

Yep. Particularly for me--- SoCal and indeterminate tomatoes. I'm doing "ok" with my beneficials but I'm still working on the diversity of plants to attract the pirate bugs and such. I'm still trying to figure out how to get some buckwheat and/or alfalfa into my tiny backyard. And I don't ever see yarrow or tansy seeds/seedlings at the garden centers. I was hoping that lacewings would be able to take care of these pests because I definitely am going to purchase some in the next week. I just don't want to shell out more money for the "other" beneficials if I don't have a nice home for them to put out future generations. Looks like UC IPM isn't as thorough for the tomato bug as they are for other pests. You never had to deal with them when you lived down here jean? Thanks Kevin