adventures with kidnapping (caterpillars, that is)!

17 years ago

Ok, who else has done this? I can't be the only one... can I?

I went to the nursery yesterday, and it happened something like this:

NURSERY: "I have OMGMILKWEED!"

LAUREL: "I am physically unable to pass milkweed without checking for caterpillars."

CATERPILLAR: *munch munch munch*

LAUREL: "OMGZSO CUTE! That's the first one I've seen this year! Why don't MY milkweeds have cats yet?"

NURSERY: "Our plants are just that rad. Also, $20."

LAUREL: "No way I'm paying $20 for a plant I already have. Especially when I can get more at that swap next month."

OTHER MILKWEED PLANTS: "Why don't WE get caterpillars, too?"

LAUREL: "Good question! I don't see any more, or even eggs! Is the nursery getting rid of all caterpillars to keep as much foliage as possible on the plants?" *panics*

And then--I tore off the leaf of the plant with the caterpillar and drove home with him. It was like seed-snatching, but with a caterpillar. From a nursery. From a plant I did not buy. I felt so guilty. But what if he would have been killed if found?

LAUREL: "OMG I just kidnapped a caterpillar!"

CATERPILLAR: *does not enjoy the car ride*

LAUREL: "You need a name, because you'll be the only caterpillar in my whole garden right now!"

CATERPILLAR: *is frozen in terror*

LAUREL: "I name you GEORGE!"

CATERPILLAR GEORGE (hereafter to be called "CG" for short): "I HATE YOUR DRIVING!"

LAUREL: "We're home!"

CG: "Where's the chow?'

LAUREL'S MILKWEED: *is covered in aphids--and ants*

CG: "Are you kidding me? You took me away from endless food only to put me in mortal peril? Haven't you ever seen ants gang up on some small creature and eat it alive?"

LAUREL'S SKIN: "What the hell is going on?"

CG: "I'm starving!"

LAUREL'S SKIN: "Are you handling MILKWEED SAP? Without gloves?!"

LAUREL'S BIRD POPULATION: "Dude, is that the seed-holder-refiller-human? With a caterpillar? NICE. The food here is getting really good! Hurry up and put him in the bird feeder and walk away so we can chow down!"

CG: *cowers*

LAUREL'S SKIN: *is getting irritated--literally*

LAUREL: "THIS SUCKS!"

At this point, I put Caterpillar George into the caterpillar cage and zip him up to keep him safe from the birds. He is still clinging to the tiny stem from the nursery, and is hungry, scared, and pouting. Then I drive back to the nursery to buy him some dinner, because I don't want to feed him to the ants on the milkweeds I already have.

LAUREL: "I wonder if I can find any more caterpillars...?" *cannot*

LAUREL'S SKIN: "Let's go home, I don't feel so good."

LAUREL: *buys a small (read: food for one, less than $20) milkweed that looks a little different than the kind I already have*

NURSERY POT: "Butterfly weed!"

LAUREL: "You're a bit vague, aren't you? Oh, well--gotta get home, George is waiting."

And then my husband calls while I'm driving home.

LAUREL'S HUSBAND: "Where are you? Is everything ok?"

LAUREL: "I KIDNAPPED A CATERPILLAR!"

LAUREL'S HUSBAND: "What?"

LAUREL: "I found a caterpillar and he was really cute and I haven't had any all season yet and I stole him from the nursery but just on one leaf and I drove him home and I think he was scared and he's really hungry now and we have ants so I can't give him the plant I wanted to give him so I locked him up because the birds would eat him and I went back to buy him some food but don't worry I only spent a little money and now I'm on my way back home!"

LAUREL'S HUSBAND: ...

LAUREL: ...

LAUREL'S HUSBAND: "Ok, that's kind of adorable."

LAUREL: "Don't encourage me!"

LAUREL'S SKIN: "You left out the part where you, like, poisoned me or something. I hate you."

I get home and rush the plant to the caterpillar habitat and plant it near the chives--I've heard aphids hate chives--and give the chives a trim to let out more scent just in case that plan will work to keep the aphids away from this new plant.

LAUREL: "C'mon, George, it's time for dinner!" *tries to coax him to move from the tiny stem he's still clinging to, to his new host plant*

CG: "I do not trust you!"

LAUREL: *leaves him on top of a group of leaves, figuring he'll climb onto them when he's ready, then puts out some Amdro--organic gardening is great whenever practical, but caterpillars > ants. Die, ants!*

CG: *has fallen off the plant and is now on the soil, still clinging to his stem*

LAUREL: "OMGIWILLSAVEYOU!"

CG: "Get the crazy lady away from me!"

LAUREL: *puts him back on the plant and gently nudges stem against leaf to make him start to climb*

LAUREL'S SKIN: "Need some help here, right about now!"

LAUREL: *zips up the habitat and puts tools away*

BIRDIES: "Damn, I don't think we're getting that one!"

LAUREL'S HUSBAND: "You're home! Where is the kidnapee?"

LAUREL'S SKIN: *is red and irritated like whoa*

LAUREL: "He is right THERE and I named him GEORGE!" *beams*

CG: *is doing upside-down caterpillar acrobatics, showing off for husband*

Maybe the reason I couldn't find any more caterpillars, is that other gardeners take them, too? Or is it just me?

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Comments (21)

pjtexgirl
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You're totally insane in a very good way! Don't worry, your caterpillar kidnapping is our little secret. I don't have cats on my milkweed either. Then again I'm the only person in TX that has to buy milkWEED every year if I want the plant for the caterpillars. I hope George is very happy and finds a very fertile girlfriend to live on your milkweed plants.LOL!PJ
debndal
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I kidnapped a baby lizard from a nursery once. It was climbing through the flats of plants and his tail was kind half off. Took him home, put him in the garden. Still have several of the same type lizard in the yard. Don't know if they are offspring, but I like to think they are.
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Texasorbust
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Laurellily, I have never met you but you are, for sure, one of my favorite people now. DH......LL..... ~ rofl!Once tried to take a picture of wee little cat and nudged him back into the frame of pic and he fell off the leaf. Thought I heard him screaming the entire way down and felt terrible the rest of the day. Hopefully he is somewhere telling the family how he got away.

Live long and prosper CG!
bev1951
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Laurel, 2 yrs ago I did the same thing with fennel. We were at Southerlands me just browsing, Dh getting stuff for some honeydos when I saw several fennel plants with cats on them. When I asked the checkout girl what they'd do with them she said THROW THEM OUT ! So I gathered up as many of the cats as I could find, some were tiny & some were good sized, & got a couple of the largest unmunched fennel & told Dh I was getting a real bargain. I had some Rue growing & Queen Anne's Lace too just in case the fennel wasn't enough. That was so much fun, but I think yours was much more exciting. I think I convinced the checkout girl to check for the cats & to not throw them out. You get the Hero award for your dangerous rescue.
denisew
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Good for you saving that poor little caterpillar from imminent doom! I like the way you told that story.
michellesg
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I bought a 5' climbing rose and a 2 gallon potted one from Costco last week just so I could steal all the huge cats they had on them. I couldn't very well leave them all in that store just to die when some unknowing consumer dragged them home in the back of a truck!!
mikeandbarb
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
OMG I needed that laugh so much Thank you Thank you. I love it your such a wonderful gardener. I'm guilty of kidnapping a lizard (hanging head in shame) I even had DH in the chase for the lizard LOL we must have looked silly. The lizard was very smart even teasing us thinking for sure we could not catch him but we fooled him. I slipped him into an empty water bottle and rushed home with him.
Laure your a wonderful story teller. I haven't had so much fun reading a story like yours in a long time.
You know that would be a great childrens story.
Have wrote books?
lindseyrose
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Laurel and others...LOL!!! Thanks for sharing your stories of caterpillar and lizard rescues. I'm just having a blast reading these stories!!
PKponder TX Z7B
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
What a fun story, LaurelLily. CG has a great home, once he gets over his irrational fear of you and quits thinking of you as a crazy lady!

How's your skin today? Still mad at you for abusing it? ;-)

Pam
jolanaweb
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
ROTFLMBO, Laurel, that is hysterical.
How is the lil guy today? He will soon realize what a great home he has, lol
Kudos to all that save the little critters, I am amazed at the amount of people that still think that caterpillars and anoles are creepies
Years ago, I gave a baby passi to a coworker that always had a beautiful veggie garden but not very many flowers
She told me one morning how she had to kill a bunch of cats on the passi (it had gotten bigger by then) because they were destroying it.
I nearly had a heart attack

There should be a show on animal planet about *cat* rescuers, lol
jolana
carolann_z8
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
How funny! You and TXorbust are so creative.

I can totally picture the whole incident.

George is so cute. lol
roxy77
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I love your narrative!

I would never think to steal the cats because my milkweed can hardly keep up with the cats I get naturally. But since I don't have very many cats right now, maybe..if I see a cat...I will steal it. I do add a new plant everyyear. But right now my MW is still growing back from the freeze this year so I had to get a new BIG plant so the cats could have at least a little food.

:)

Anyway, that was so cute.
lindseyrose
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Laurel, gues who I thought of today and the nursery?? We were visiting a place called Plants For All Seasons (out 249 near Tomball). I had a potted blue plumbago in my hand, only to realize there was the cutest little green tree frog nestled right up against the stem!! My boys loved it but kept trying to poke it. I wanted to take a picture before shooing it off my plant (I try to have my camera--always!). As you can imagine, we were making a scene. LOL I didn't end up getting a picture, and there was no way I was going to rescue this guy home to my house: I didn't want the risk of losing him in my van! LOL

Anyway, just had to share! I'm sure he's happy among the rest of the beautiful plants they have there!!
bunnyvicious
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Uh oh? Caterpillars are friends, or is there maybe an evil variety as well? We just bought a house and this is my first attempt at gardening. Already I have made several mistakes, like assuming if the nursery sells it, it will grow here...

We have an oak tree in the front yard and it started shedding caterpillars faster than leaves in a fall windstorm. It's a bit windy here. I was finding them all over our four acres happily munching away at my roses like a gourmet buffet. So many buds about to open were gnawed in half and the leaves looked like targets at a gun range. I assaulted the little pests with a rose spray and they froze in mid-chew and toppled from the plants. Yay me! I suppose I am guilty of caterpillarcide now, but who would have thought an insect devouring my plants was a good thing? They still thrive despite my efforts. Since everyone is in the market for caterpillars, maybe I should forget about gardening and breed these little buggers for sale?

I would like to know, why are they good to have in your garden? Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question...lol. 0:)
lindseyrose
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Bunny--those are the bad kind. LOL Those are probably oak leaf rollers and I don't think they become any coveted type of butterfly. That's the reason Laurel and others were saving certain cats--they are future butterflies! There is a certain cat that eats passiflora vines to pieces, but becomes a beautiful butterfly soon after. I believe it's the Gulf Frittiary.

I don't blame you for wiping out your caterpillars. I mean, you have to stick up for your rose bushes!!
trsinc
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
lol! Hysterical. You should put together a little book of all your gardening adventures. I bet you could include other GWers calamities, as well. We could all help you come up with a title.
mikeandbarb
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I wish I could have tree frogs they are sooooo cute.
When I was young my dad and I would go down to the creek and catch bull frogs to bring back to the house for them to eat bugs.
My dogs love hunting lizards, every night when the lizards come out the dogs somehow know they are out and beg to go outside to chase them, thankfully the lizards are fast enough to out run the dogs and they make it into their hinding place, the dog will sniff all around the rocks, then the get bored and go looking for more lizards.
One of my dog will sit for hours looking up in the tree at the texas spiney lizards.
LaurelLily
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am so glad that I'm not the only self-appointed "rescuer" here. : )

UPDATE! Caterpillar George spent the last week and a half enjoying caterpillar acrobatics and climbing around on the inside of the caterpillar habitat instead of on the plant, no doubt exploring and having many caterpillar-ish adventures as he chooses a location to build a caccoon. And husband just e-mailed me to announce that GEORGE IS OFFICIALLY COCOONING TODAY! So, to celebrate, here are some pictures of him from earlier this week:

I proudly present: CATERPILLAR GEORGE!

Caterpillar Acrobatics:

Caterpillar Adventures as he explores his cage:
sandwhy
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Laurel, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I too am physically unable to pass milkweed without checking for caterpillars!!!!! Could you please publish this as a short story? I'd love to see the illustrations that would accompany it - curious as to what a pouting caterpillar looks like. :)

Sandy
west_texas_peg
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Our Toy Fox Terrier keeps the lizards in our garden fit and trim. Heavens only knows what would happen if she actually caught one. She has discovered lizards in the compost pile and hangs out there til it gets hot, then she heads to the sideyard where she can roll around on the cool grass and keep watch for the lizards that live in our pecan trees.

The green striped lizards love to pick on her, often a pair will tease her into a chase then split up; she doesn't know which one to go after. LOL

This morning I was picking squash and I heard a roar down the walkway, raised up in time to see Tess hot on the heels of a black cat. This cat loves to sleep under my Belinda's Dream rose bush. She nearly gave me heart failure last week when I was watering that bed. I reached in to pull heads off of the yarrow and she came boiling out right under me, it's a wonder I did not step on her!

God's small blessings are so wonderful.
Peggy
mandi_s1
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sounds like the adventures of earlier this month with the attack of the Io moth caterpillar.

My son got stung, I let him stay on my mini rose, which he stripped in a week, got the size of my thumb and LEFT!

I was used and left by a caterpillar.

adventures with kidnapping (caterpillars, that is)!

Comments (21)

pjtexgirl

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adventures with kidnapping (caterpillars, that is)!

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LaurelLilyOriginal Author

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