Okay, here's mine' Tomatoe - watermelon beefsteak Tomatoe - Hawaiin Pineapple Tomatoe - Stupice Green pepper - Ace Corn Bush Green beans Garlic Kale Mesclun mix Bokchoy Winter squash x 3 - Acorn, Pink banana, Butternut Cukes x 1 - straight 8 Carrots - Danvers Broccoli x 1 Onions x 1 Thyme x1 Marjoram x1 Basil x 2 Lavender x 2 Borage (to keep away the hornworms) Chives x 1 Highbush Blueberry x 4 Raspberries x 1 Red Potatoes x 1 Summer squash x 3 - Yellow, Pattypan, Zuccini Sweet Potato - Beauragard (sp)? 1st year and its in the greenhouse raised bed.

Link to larger image: Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Flowering Bush

Typical of many Heterocera genera, H. cecropia is a very general feeder with way over 100 plants that its larvae will use and have been reared on. So finding food plant for them is rarely a problem. Just use what you can get in great enough quantity to see them through. If your "lilac" is a Syringa, they will probably use it. They might also use your Populus, Quercus, Betula and Ulmus. 27 may sound like a lot to you, but that's really not very many. Rearing them by the hundreds like I've done so many times in the past means needing food plant by the truck loads. So I usually reared mine on Salix babylonica, S. exigua, Populus tremuloides, P. fremontii or Prunus viginiana because they were easy for me to get in quantity fresh either on my property or not far from it. In the high plateau ranch country where I lived the wild H. cecropia used mostly Salix exigua or Populus fremontii, while higher up in the mountains they used mostly Populus tremuloides and Prunus virginiana. But over the years and travel I've probably found their larvae on at least a couple of dozen different plant species. Didn't matter, they switched over to what I offered them. I never saw a growth rate change between plants used. As long as they had copious amounts of fresh plant daily they thrived for me no matter what plant. I don't agree with leaving any plant cutting for days or until it is consumed for any species. The fresher the plant the better for healthy and disease free cats. With few exceptions the 10's of thousands of Lep's I've reared on cuttings over the decades got fresh food daily, and some twice daily if that's what it took to keep them up to their ears in clover. ;) And BTW, don't trust the range/dot maps too much for this species. I've found them many hundreds of miles and in 4-5 states they don't occur in according to the maps. They are fun bugs to rear with a great reward for your efforts, so have fun with them. And please, only release them if you know for sure that they do occur in your area. Larry

It’s hard to tell distance - a shrub would need to be a good distance from the dryer vent. It looks to me like the existing border of the bed is maybe 3-4’ from the house? If I was going to put a shrub there, I’d plant it right where that 4x4 is sunk in the ground, if measured from it to the inner corner is about 5’. If you don’t get it far enough from the house, it will suffer from the vent in the winter. Plus it needs to be away from the house for reasons of sun, rain, and air circulation.