Around the Yard

 It's funny what one does (and sometimes does not) notice walking around the yard.

Last year our little satsuma tree suffered major damage from...something unknown...leaving us with bare stems, no leaves, and no flowers when it was supposed to flower (fall).  We truly thought we had lost it completely but in the spring it sprang back and we were hopeful we might have some fruit in a year or three.  

Last week I was out looking at the fruit trees (fig, loquat, mulberry, and the satsuma) and discovered something very, very peculiar.

WHAT IN THE WORLD????

MONSTER???
 
Oh yeah; definitely MONSTER!!

I hurried into the house, let Cletus know there was something WEIRD on his satsuma tree, grabbed the tweezers out of the first aid kit and a disposable cup, went back out to the tree, and got to work.  We found a grand total of five of these little monsters.  We noticed a very odd smell as we were picking them off and they had the most peculiar little red horns which periodically came out of their heads.  Especially as we dispatched them (or if you prefer, "culled" them) (Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to!).

We found out these are the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars.  While we love butterflies and find the Giant Swallowtails lovely, we also REALLY like having satsumas in the winter so until our trees are a little better established and can handle losing a few leaves, we will keep a close watch and "take care of" any caterpillars we find!

In addition to the satsuma, fig, loquat, and mulberry we also have several banana trees we planted around just for fun.  Winters have been hard on them.  So far, they have been purely ornamental.  Our banana tree guru suggested in extremely cold weather (that's down into the 20s around here.  Brrr!) we try cutting the extra leaves and wrapping the stem in burlap.  We tried that in the worst of the cold over the past couple of years.  The other morning I was doing quail chores and discovered what looked like a piece of one of the elephant ear plants on the other side of the house from the elephant ears.  Since we had a little wind from the storms, I did not pay too much attention to it.  That evening Cletus came in the house and said, "Grab your camera and come out here!"

Turns out the piece of elephant ear was not really!

It looks like corn on the cob, doesn't it?!

But no, those are bananas up there!

We are looking forward to some grilled bananas in a few weeks!

 What's in your yard?

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