Caterpillars, Chicory and 106-degree August Days

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Now this is a caterpillar! These are roaming around the yard and emerge when we water. We think it is the offspring of the giant moths that live here.
Marillyn Stewart of Wild Things Nursery and Sharon Owen of Moonshadow Herb Farm have both identified the mystery plant as chicory, so we will go with that. I just did not know chicory could grow to six-feet tall, but here it is.


This is a side view of the chicory flower.

With the temperatures soaring to 106-degrees this week, watering twice a day will have to be the norm.
The other tough part about the heat is having to decide what to let go.
Some of the annuals are struggling to stay alive so they get a free ride to the compost. Half of the spaghetti squash and all of the potimarron squash are fading fast and will be put out of their misery this week, too.

On the upside the eggplant, basil, cucumbers, peppers, passion flowers, ornamental millet, zinnias, cherry tomatoes, arum, plectranthus, and other plants are thriving.
The blackberries are ending their bumper crop year and what a summer it was for them.
Another cheerful part of the heat is that the grass is slowing down its growth - less mowing is a good thing.

Comments

With Bowl + Spoon said…
That's a tomato horn worm.
September 3, 2009 at 6:07 PM
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