I love the common or garden coreopsis, golden tickseed,
Coreopsis tinctoria. Especially when I get some variations on a theme. This year two different flowers have shown up.
This is the kind of surprise I can do without. Yesterday I discovered my swiss chard eaten to shreds. Overnight!
Here's the culprit. They can move with some speed. I have seen them barreling across the ground.
Or should I say culprits. I no longer have any tolerance for these caterpillars and they are getting the bag treatment. Birds don't want them and nor do I. What are they anyway? I have so many of them. Some eat mint, some eat zucchini leaves, some eat chard.... in fact they eat everything.
Then there is the time spent on bended knee checking for the eggs of the squash vine borer. It's the only way to have squash.
A lucky catch. this morning I caught the culprit, but not before she had been busy laying eggs. A count of 15 this morning.
Tomatoes are looking good this year. I picked the first ripe one this week, which is a record for this garden. It was celebrity in more ways than one.
It looks as though we are going to have a late crop of beets this year. This is the first time I have planted them other than in the fall. Beets and beans in the same bed.
These are the kind of surprises I love. 
This is the kind of surprise I can do without. Yesterday I discovered my swiss chard eaten to shreds. Overnight! 
Here's the culprit. They can move with some speed. I have seen them barreling across the ground.
Or should I say culprits. I no longer have any tolerance for these caterpillars and they are getting the bag treatment. Birds don't want them and nor do I. What are they anyway? I have so many of them. Some eat mint, some eat zucchini leaves, some eat chard.... in fact they eat everything.
Then there is the time spent on bended knee checking for the eggs of the squash vine borer. It's the only way to have squash.
A lucky catch. this morning I caught the culprit, but not before she had been busy laying eggs. A count of 15 this morning.
Tomatoes are looking good this year. I picked the first ripe one this week, which is a record for this garden. It was celebrity in more ways than one.
It looks as though we are going to have a late crop of beets this year. This is the first time I have planted them other than in the fall. Beets and beans in the same bed.
I have a silver beetle eating my Coreopsis down to the ground! I'm not sure what is worse this spring--the bugs or the heat! Those tomatoes look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThose caterpillars look like a menace to the garden. I hope you got them all. I hate those kinds of surprises!
ReplyDeleteBut I like the good surprises, of blooms that are slightly different than you expected.
Ugh! Sorry about your chard! But your tomatoes and flowers look fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI have those same caterpillars. They've been eating different salvias, around the yard...and the lima beans. Haven't caught any on the chard. Guess I better check again.
ReplyDeleteYou're other things are WAY ahead of mine. Looks good.
~~Linda...
I had one of those caterpillars on a volunteer sunflower a couple of weeks ago, if it's the same thing. I Googled it and I think it's a Saltmarsh caterpillar, Estigmene acrea (Drury) - also known as a "Woolly Bear." They turn black as they get older, from what I can tell. It's on my blog post "Flora and Fauna"
ReplyDeleteI've seen a couple of black ones in the lawn this week (including one being eaten by a mockingbird).
The coreopsis are gorgeous! Wonderful photos!
I am going to try beets this fall.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting about your fight with squash vine borers. I picked five eggs off my squash and zucchini stems earlier this week and two today.
Yes, I've been attacked by caterpillars too, but not sure if it's the same one. Thanks for the picture on the squash vine borer mom.
ReplyDeleteI love the coreopsis too. Must add some more. Yours are gorgeous.