I always get my American lady cats in spring, I assume only because the host plant they use here is cudweed/gnaphalium pensylvanicum, or whatever the latest scientific name they use for it is these days. Cudweed is a cool season plant that dies back when it gets hot - it's gone now, so, even though I'm still seeing adults, probably the ones that I released, there's no cudweed or any other host plant here for them to lay their eggs on. Which reminds me, does anybody know of an American lady host plant that can take heat, as in the 90F's, and humidity? I've been meaning to experiment with some other host plants, hoping to find a heat tolerant plant for them to use, but I always have so many other gardening projects going on I forget about it. Anyway, none of my chrysalids ever overwinter, probably because they're formed so early in the year. Maybe if I could get some cats in the fall, they'd overwinter as a chrysalid, since my Audubon field guide says they can overwinter that way or as an adult.
The females lay their eggs on small plants in early spring, and the plants, which are weeds, grow rapidly. Cudweed colonizes, and additional little plants will nearly always come up around the main plant, giving the cat enough food to live on until pupation, but this isn't always the case. I wind up bringing in a lot more cats to raise that I intend to, because cudweed comes up in areas where people or my dogs would trample it, and just about every decent cudweed plant has an AL nest on it.
The only way I can keep cudweed fresh in a water pick or other container is to cut the stem down low on the plant, or, if it's a tall stem, I can cut it higher up - the stem that you insert in the water just needs to be fairly thick, not skinny top growth. The cats come out of their nests to feed on the leaves, the nearby flowers, and even the soft stems themselves. They reach full size quickly, pupate quickly, and emerge quickly. Most of the chrysalids are dull gray, but some are yellow with some green coloring in them -
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Cudweed starts regrowing in the fall as soon as the temperatures cool off, so you'd think I'd get cats then, but I don't. It actually starts to bloom in late winter, and from then until hot weather sets in, I can expect to find AL cats.
I think I'm going to see if I can find any helichrysum for sale through a mail-order nursery. Somebody on this forum posted that ALs had laid eggs on theirs, and I remember looking it up and finding that it's native to Australia - maybe it can take heat.
Sherry

MissSherry, I have helicrysum 'Icicles' and it does well in the summer heat here. My Pearly Everlasting is just now starting to bloom and is showing lots of new growth around the base of the plant, too.

Here's a list from the Dallas County Lepidopterist group:

Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)

Pussy-Toes (Antennaria parlinii)

Mexican Sagebrush (Artemisia ludoviciana)

Purple Cudweed (Gamochaeta purpurea)

Scotch-Thistle (Onopordum acanthium)

Cudweed (Pseudognaphalium spp.)

Ragwort (Senecio spp.)

Milk-Thistle (Silybum marianum).

BORAGINACEAE: Blueweed (Echium vulgare)

Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis spp.)

MALVACEAE: Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)

Some of these are spring plants, like you say the cudweed is. But, I think that Pussytoes and Mexican Sagebrush would work well. Didn't you say at one time that you planted the Mexican Sagebrush?

Susan

No, Susan, I've never planted sagebrush or anything for ALs. Last night I ordered some helichrysum from Mountain Valley Growers to plant in beds where zinnias are now growing - I've always wanted to order from that nursery, but never have until now. The flowers on the zinnias are pretty, and the butterflies go to them off and on, but they've grown so tall they're falling over. I pruned some of them, and they seem to be making new growth from the top, but they still look ugly.
If the helichrysum works, I've still got bed space to plant some shorted zinnias in the future - or maybe I should just leave out the chicken manure? :) The picture of the helichrysum italicum was very attractive, and it looked to be short!
Sherry

Miss Sherry, Thanks so much for all of that AL cat information! That is a very pretty picture of a chrysalid! I don't have cudweed, but I guess if I would mine would probably not mind our weather up here, although you wouldn't know that I live in PA judging by the 90+ degree temps here lately along with fairly high humidity.

I'm still surprised that I got cats here this early. It's the first year that I've had AL cats, but I didn't expect them until later considering that I haven't seen the butterflies here yet. I guess they could have been here and I just wasn't outside at the time?

I hope you have luck with the helichrysum. It would be interesting to see if you get cats in the fall and they'd overwinter.

I might just try bringing one cat in so I can get to see the pupa. I'm sure I probably won't see them outside when they pupate, as there are so many different places where they could go. I just remembered something else I wanted to ask. I noticed that the cats are bristly so I was wondering if they're the kind that you can't touch. I didn't know if all caterpillars that look like that hurt when you touch them or not. Since I've only raised Monarchs and BST's so far, I don't know about the ones with bristles (or whatever you call those things that stick up on their backs).

I can certainly relate to you about having so many gardening projects. My husband teases me all the time about the fact that I should have a fulltime gardener so I can keep up with everything here. lol It is actually getting difficult getting everything done, but hiring someone is out of the question. I like doing the things but it is getting a little overwhelming. If the weeds wouldn't keep coming up, I'd be okay.

It's exciting getting to see a new kind of cat here this year! I wish I could raise every cat that will ever show up here, but I can only do so much. It was almost more than I could do raising over 500 Monarchs last year. I only had about 25 BST's, which wasn't bad at all, but those Monarchs sure kept me hopping.

Another question: Have you ever had an American Lady cat that had been parasitized by a wasp or fly (I don't know if they do that to those or not)? I'm concerned that if I leave them outside that hardly any of them will actually end up being AL butterflies.

I guess now I know what happened to the flowers of the pussytoes since you said the AL cats eat them. I had been hoping for seeds from them but oh well.

Cathy

Cathy, I've never had an American lady be parasitized by a wasp, but then that's only happened to one of my caterpillars in my entire caterpillar raising life, and that covers a LOT of cats!! The cat was a spicebush swallowtail that overwintered as a chrysalid, and when spring came a wasp came out! I was floored! I imagine these country butterfly cats don't get parasitized much because of all the web worms - I've read that they're first choice for wasps. I HAVE seen braconid? wasp cocoons on tomato hornworms when I first moved here, but I wasn't raising cats at the time.
Sherry

Sherry, Wow, that's amazing that you've only ever had one parasitized by a wasp out of ALL the cats that you've raised! That's got to be some kind of a record! Just out of the two dozen BST cats that I raised, I had two wasps come out of the pupae! They didn't live long though! Yes, I can just believe that you've raised lots and lots of cats over the years. You're so lucky that you had that much of a success rate! Maybe you collect mostly all of yours as eggs or very tiny cats before the wasps have had a chance to get to them. The BST cats that I had that had been parasitized were probably collected by me in my early hunting stages before I realized that there were some out on the rue. After I saw the first ones, though, I was careful to get there early hopefully before any wasps showed up patrolling the plants. I was floored too when those two wasps came out...very disappointing!

I'm not sure if web worms are the same as tent caterpillars, but I know that sometimes I'll spot tent caterpillars in some trees. I had some objects on our weeping cherry tree last year which I posted pictures of on here and was told that they were tent caterpillar eggs, so I destroyed them. I really dislike those things, and ugh, we have so many gypsy moths here this year it's ridiculous. Between seeing those all over plants and seeing the locust "shells" everywhere too, it's about enough to creep a person out. I don't like either of those two things. I try to avoid going outside in the morning because then the actual locusts are hanging on the plants. I'm guessing that they're drying their wings after they emerged like butterflies do. I think their peak is over because it isn't such a deafening shrill hum outside all day long anymore, more of a dull sound.

So those are actually wasp coccoons that hang on the tomato hornworms? I've seen those white things hanging on them and wasn't sure what they were. When I see them, it's not just a few but a few dozen. I don't know if I'll ever raise tomato hornworms; I'll have to think about that one. I think I remember reading that they turn into hummingbird moths though, right? I know I like those, so maybe I will someday. It's just that I already have plenty to raise with the butterfly cats that I find that I really don't know if I'll get into the moth part of Leps. I think when I get up in the morning, I'll go outside and visit my American Lady cats. I might bring one in.
Cathy

Hi Cathy,

I brought in one AL last year--at the end of the season, and I thought it would overwinter; instead, a wasp emerged.

This year I have probably about 10 or more that I brought in; I was in a hurry because we were leaving, and I didn;t want to tear open the little enclosures. There are more outside. And as I was bringing in this bunch an AL mama butterfly was laying eggs.

I just became aware of these caterpillars at the end of last year's season, so I don't know if it's early or not for them.

I find them on Pearly Everlasting (which is good in the heat too--they were going strong in July and August, but our heat is nothing like zone 8/9 heat. We get pussytoes, so I may bring some of those in when they are up--haven't seen them yet, but I only recognize them when they are blooming, so I'll have to check the spot where they were last year to see if I can begin to recognize foliage.

It's frustrating when all of the guide books only ID by flowers--doesn't help when the plant is not flowering.

Anyway, the AL was easy to raise; the PE kept for a while in a tupperware container with holes in the cover. The holes have to made a little larger because the stems are not as "twiggy" as milkweed.

It's fun to find new species and raise them. The new ones that I have found are much easier to rear than monarch caterpillars.

Have fun with the ALs!

BG, I'm not really all that unhappy that I don't get many monarchs to raise, what with them being so disease prone - I'm spared the pain!
Yes, Cathy, I bring in real early instar cats, not eggs (usually) but early enough that wasps aren't likely to have bothered them. If you can tell the difference between gypsy moth eggs and the eggs of other tent caterpillars/web worms, then it really wouldn't hurt to leave the non-gypsy moths alone. I feel SO fortunate that GMs don't occur here - knock on wood!!
Sherry

MissSherry, the artemisia ludoviciana is a very low growing ground cover plant, too. They had some at Home Depot, but I didn't (should have) get any. I think it is more heat tolerant, too.

I think the pussytoes handle the heat well also. The one I have is nearly succulent in nature. The only thing is I'm going to have to prepare a bed for it, because I've read that it does not like competition from other plants at all.

I think most of the AL plants like very good drainage as well. I know I lost my Pearly Everlasting last year (I thought it was in an area with near perfect drainage) due to all the rain we had. So, I planted it in a pot this year (about as perfect as you get for drainage).

The helichrysum 'Icicles' is more of a spikey foliage plant. More like the herb sold as "Curry", but isn't curry. Mine is about 1' tall and is blooming like crazy. I hope to get seeds from it.

My cudweed is still up and I hope it blooms before the heat gets it. I've heard it is a cool weather plant, too.

The 'Icicles' is very heat tolerant (Helichrysum).

Susan

Licorice plant, in the helichrysum family is another host plant that likes the heat. I purchased one of these with a little Am L caterpillar already feeding.

Sandy

That may be the only one that caterpillars like, Sandy, so I may have ordered a plant they won't like. Helichrysum italicum/h. angustifolium has the typical silvery looking leaves that ALs like, though, so maybe it'll do, I'll see.
Sherry