Begonia Mailbox

Earlier this year I showed you a very inelegant recycled mailbox with  a couple of begonia stems.

Here is the progress it has made.

It will have to go inside in October to escape the frost.

Night-blooming Cereus

Our night-blooming cereus has just bloomed.  It had fewer blossoms this year.

 Probably being a cactus, it did not enjoy all the rain we have had.

 It is impossible to miss its bloom time since it smells very good and its scent comes in the second- floor bedroom window.

 Notice the graceful bud.  It bloomed the next night.

Tomato Disaster

You may remember the tomatoes that were doing so well upside down.  

They produced some early tomatoes and then one morning we made a disheartening discovery.

That ugly green thing on top of the tomatoes is a tomato hornworm.  Not only did it eat the leaves, it destroyed these beautiful green tomatoes.




Notice that it also brought a friend.
These are Manduca quinquemaculata.

We were surprised to discover that this ugly thing turns into a hummingbird moth, something we had admired and taken pictures of. This rather heavy-bodied moth has other names in different parts of the country.

Eggs are deposited on the upper and lower surfaces of leaves in the spring.  Our hummingbird moths love our butterfly bush.




These two fellows will not become moths.  If they brought along the family, they could decimate a tomato row in one night.