Iris, what kind of plant are those cats ravaging? The Mexican Sweet Herb is very pretty. I guess you could call it a frogfruit, because it's so closely related. It looks like it would make a nice front of the border, or container plant. Do you get many butterflies on the flowers? Do uou know what species of them are the best as host plants. One side of my house is shaded by Oak, and Cottonwood. Grass won't grow there so I have ferns and Hostas, and there's a few shade loving Carex sedge in there too. I noticed a bunch of little plantains in there, that are tiny because of the dry, hot, weather. I'm going to start watering and fertilizing them for the Buckeyes. When I went to harvest a syriaca stalk tonight, I found yet another Monarch cat on it.

This is Pokeberry. I always leave some, especially by my brush pile. Hoping to get some leopard moth caterpillars, but most of them are stripped down to nothing by some green loopers, some elusive one I never see because it is rolled in the leaves and the one The Logician identified as armyworm. I am thrown off by the hump on the neck I suppose. No little kids around to eat the berries and poison themselves, so don’t worry. The frog fruit attracts a lot of tiny critters, not really butterflies. As important to me though. I got them as starter plants from shady oaks butterfly farm, it said to be the hostplant for 3 kinds of butterflies, including the buckeyes.

Wow Iris, never knew pokeweed was a host plant! I eradicated all my pokeweeds and burdocks. These army worms just turn into drab looking moths right? Everything is an important part in the web of life. I was looking at a little tan colored moth by the front outside light last night. It was beautiful. If it was large sized it would rival a Polyphemus or Imperial. So glad I took the time to look.

Pokeweed is native to the US. That means something here has evolved to eat it (sometimes that something is now extinct - osage orange fruit is an example). In my Lep presentations, I point out the cool Leps that use poison ivy as a hostplant. I also mention that people can transfer tobacco and tomato hornworms to horsenettle AKA Solanum carolinense. You save your tomatoes and the caterpillars chew down a weed you don't want. Win/win.

KC, What's the name of the extinct lep that used Osage Orange? Very interesting that something uses Toxicodendron radicans ( poison ivy) as a host plant. Even the botanical name sounds dangerous...........................Toxicodendron.

I wish something would eat my Poison Ivy....