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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by jhyatt » Sat Sep 21, 2024 12:16 am
Tennessee for a number of years, and much prefer it to the gaudier red-orange species. I've tried it in the ground, but it seems to do a lot better in a container. Sadly I couldn't find it at any nursery this year, and we are making do with brighter-colored ones. They all attract butterflies (and hummingbirds) very well.
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by jhyatt » Sat Sep 21, 2024 12:10 am
I have an old (1930's) Riker mount with 6 Colias eurytheme from Alberta, and they are every one about half normal size. The original collector wrote on the back of the mount, after the data,"The year of drought".
jh
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by livingplanet3 » Fri Sep 20, 2024 5:50 pm
Butterflies will come to it, but it seems less attractive to them than other Lantana species (at least in my experience). I've seen a few skippers on it. The common Lantana (L. camara) seems to be more reliable for attracting butterflies and other pollinators. I got my L. montevidensis at a local nursery last spring. It doesn't seem to be as commonly available at garden centers as L. camara. Here's a photo of a purple cultivar of montevidensis -
https://plantmaster.com/plants/eplant.p ... oject=2315
In a contained area, it's easy to control, but if given space, it will rapidly climb all over everything in a vine-like manner, as here, with this fence -
https://waterwisegardenplanner.org/plan ... evidensis/
Its growth habit is very different from that of camara, which is much more shrub-like in shape.
As with anything else, I'm sure that there are numerous variables involved. I like to think that the deer are now staying away from my place just because I planted a bunch of Lantana, but it could well have more to do with the fact that there are now more dogs on my street, which might be a deterrent to them. Also, as of late last year, a new residence was built just to the east of my house, which also happens to be the direction that most deer would have wandered in from, where there is a heavily wooded area.kevinkk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2024 4:35 pm Perhaps, but I offer this- The Lantana I have is in a container that held a sweet gum tree , the tree, more or less a sapling, this year began to fail,
so it was cut, the stump left. We planted the flowers, and later the sweet gum started to grow again, the deer ate the new Liquidambar, right next
to the Lantana. Now, you could read just about anything when it comes to animal behavior, is it random chance, or by design?
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by kevinkk » Fri Sep 20, 2024 4:35 pm
Perhaps, but I offer this- The Lantana I have is in a container that held a sweet gum tree , the tree, more or less a sapling, this year began to fail,livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 20, 2024 2:07 pm Interestingly, deer stopped coming around my yard after the Lantatas were planted. Apart from being unpalatable, I wonder if they also have a repellent effect, if planted in sufficient quantity? If so, it's helping protect my other plants as well
so it was cut, the stump left. We planted the flowers, and later the sweet gum started to grow again, the deer ate the new Liquidambar, right next
to the Lantana. Now, you could read just about anything when it comes to animal behavior, is it random chance, or by design?
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by kevinkk » Fri Sep 20, 2024 4:24 pm
I had always wondered if pupa lost weight as time passed. It seems logical as the animal changes internally, but I have never made the effort to
compare weights of newly formed cocoons or pupa to ones after diapausing or after being set out to hatch.
Other factors can cause dwarves, I had a Brahmaea wallichi larva form a dwarf pupa after missing consuming it's shed skin, something I noticed
with 1 or 2 other larva. Unfortunately, the moth expired before hatching. The other larva simply wouldn't grow and I dispatched them.
Another factor might be food plant, not sub-par material, but living plants. I have suspected that the Hyalophora euryalus I raise from
wild adults and used cherry to grow the larva was producing larger adults than the ones I was capturing, and this season I split the brood between
cherry and ceanothus, the cherry part spun cocoons that are clearly larger, I have yet to weigh and store them.
Now that it's come up, I'll take the time to check all my adult euryalus specimens and compare the wild ones with the ones I raised at
home on cherry. Now, there is no way to know what an adult capture fed on, but I think some conclusions could be drawn.
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Re: Death by fungus
by Chuck » Fri Sep 20, 2024 3:22 pm
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Re: Don't collect in Sri Lanka!
by Chuck » Fri Sep 20, 2024 3:20 pm
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by Chuck » Fri Sep 20, 2024 3:13 pm
That is my experience raising Saturnids. Those exposed to crowding and competition for food results in surprisingly small adults.
Also- John had mentioned spring individuals tend to be smaller. We know that pupae lose weight during dipause, and the loss accumulates over time, which can only result in a smaller adult.
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by 58chevy » Fri Sep 20, 2024 2:18 pm
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by Cabintom » Fri Sep 20, 2024 2:18 pm
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by livingplanet3 » Fri Sep 20, 2024 2:07 pm
Interestingly, deer stopped coming around my yard after the Lantatas were planted. Apart from being unpalatable, I wonder if they also have a repellent effect, if planted in sufficient quantity? If so, it's helping protect my other plants as well.kevinkk wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2024 11:22 pm Nice. Lantana also seems to be deer resistant. That means that deer choose my other plants first, and have as yet, not chomped any Lantana.
Finding nice looking plants that flower, are less tasty than others and will do well where you put them isn't always easy.
Proactive can be the order, the lupine had to be fenced in this year, and successfully bloomed, I could have photographed it I suppose ,a
nice yellow and purple colored cultivar.
it's always too late when you realize you have deer salad or your plant is homesick.
Some varieties have flowers that change color as they mature, and others (such as "New Gold") don't. I'd long had a variety here that goes from yellow to orange, but until quite recently, I really wasn't aware of the cultivars that have pink/purple coloration. One that I planted this spring (a purple variety of Lantana montevidensis), is a trailing form that I really should have kept in some large pots, because when planted in the ground, it's growth was exponential - it rapidly took over and became impossible to keep in check. In a single season, two small plants took over an entire area, smothering everything else around them.
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by jhyatt » Fri Sep 20, 2024 1:59 pm
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Re: Large for UK!
by Eddie-Bug » Fri Sep 20, 2024 12:12 pm
Thanks Johnny
PS/ I assume you agree with the ID?
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Re: Large for UK!
by Johnnyboy » Fri Sep 20, 2024 9:01 am
The females were around 2 inches (5cm) in bodylength (if you include the ovipositer). I decided to keep some in an old aquarium, I picked one up and it bit me very severely, the blood was running from my finger and I had to wrap tissue around the tip to soak up the blood. It put me off keeping them as pets so I returned them all to the place I found them. A rather stout, chunky insect.
Of course they were used to bite off warts in years gone by. Interestingly anther insect used to treat warts is the Spanish Fly beetle (Lytta vesicatoria). They secrete a vesicant, the poisonous Cantharadin. This is applied to the wart topically to chemically burn it away. If consumed in small amounts, cantharadin also acts as a sexual stimulant through irritation of the urethral tract.
The Great Green Bushcricket, (Tettigonia viridissima) is even bigger. One of my friends has found them ovipositing on the dunes on the Kent Coast, near Sandwich. The females reach over 7cm in bodylength (including ovipositer) and are the largest cricket found in the UK.
Regards
Johnny
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by Johnnyboy » Fri Sep 20, 2024 8:30 am
Regards
Johnny
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by 58chevy » Fri Sep 20, 2024 2:04 am
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Re: Lantanas blooming again
by kevinkk » Thu Sep 19, 2024 11:22 pm
Finding nice looking plants that flower, are less tasty than others and will do well where you put them isn't always easy.
Proactive can be the order, the lupine had to be fenced in this year, and successfully bloomed, I could have photographed it I suppose ,a
nice yellow and purple colored cultivar.
it's always too late when you realize you have deer salad or your plant is homesick.
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by 58chevy » Thu Sep 19, 2024 10:21 pm
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Lantanas blooming again
by livingplanet3 » Thu Sep 19, 2024 5:58 pm
Lantana has proven to be a good choice for my yard - they tolerate the summer heat, and need very little maintenance apart from watering. They die back to the ground after the first hard freeze, but quickly grow back from the base in the spring. Same with Cannas, so for a few months of the year, I don't even need to water them.
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Re: Outsized/Oversized specimens + species
by Trehopr1 » Thu Sep 19, 2024 2:38 pm
Measurements are also helpful if you have no "typical" examples to show us.