Many Colors of Pumpkins On A Stick

A Confession

When I brought the Purple Pupa inside, it was at the wiggly stage, so I thought I had a lot of time before it would hatch.  After all, in the past I've hatched beetles out of my geckos' mealworms, and they first were in the wiggly soft stage, and then became very hard for weeks before beetlin' it up.  I was very wrong though... I delayed putting it in a mason jar, and within a matter of hours there was nothing left but an empty pupa.  Eep!  The plan had been to just wait 'till I could see what it became, and then release it.  I searched everywhere trying to find it to free it, to no avail.

I deep-cleaned my house this weekend, the sort of "spring cleaning" that I always do right before autumn.  While I understand that spring cleaning was originally for removing soot and airing dust out the house after winter (since you couldn't leave your windows and doors open in the rain) back when people didn't have vacuums and perfect fireplaces, I always want to deep clean before the cold season so that I can more fully enjoy the house since winter is when I spend the most time inside.  Anyway, I digress.  I was moving our heaviest piece of furniture, and underneath was a very large (1.25 inches), very dead, very plain brown moth that vaguely resembled bark.  Yeah, I've learned my lesson.

Sorry, little guy.

Upon closer inspection, you can see that the moth is not actually plain brown, it is a wiggly rainbow of dark brown, light brown, black, green-grey, cream, pink, and even PURPLE scales (those are scales, not pixels).  The purple scales are the same exact shade as his pupae, so I am pretty certain of his identity.  Morbid, yes, but it also amazing how most things in nature become even more intricate and fascinating the closer you look.  The scales showed up most beautifully and only shimmered with the camera's flash... I am finding that I love the macro setting on this camera, it allows me to see things I never would have noticed.

Reminds me of peacock feathers.

Pumpkin On A Stick

*SQUEE*
New plant!

Bwahahahaha, it has fangs!

I get to work in a greenhouse once or twice a week, and there is a retired gentleman named Professor Robby who also used to work in the greenhouse but likes to still come to care for his amazing collection of plants.  Every time I check on my plants which are near his, I marvel at two in his collection... one is a vine with little crisp leaves and yellow flowers with brown centers, and the other is a small bush with miniature pumpkins yet the flowers don't look like gourd flowers (like trumpets).  The pumpkin one is my favorite... I have seen it in bouquets before and I think also at my grandpa's house (he is my gardening idol), and have unsuccessfully tried to grow it from seed from that bouquet.

Walking through the greenhouse today, I saw the half-wilted mini pumpkin plant laying on a table without a pot, and Prof. Robby offered it to me out of the blue!  How did he know that it was the one plant of his that I coveted the most?  I accepted in a split second and thanked him profusely... in his humbleness, he said that his mom always had a superstition that if you thank someone for a plant it'll die.  I thanked him anyway, and he said he didn't believe in superstition.  Haha!

Mini "pumpkins" from my new plant

(with jasmine nightshade, Solanum jasminoides flowers behind it)

I looked it up online, and quickly discovered that it is Solanum aethiopicum, otherwise known as Ornamental Eggplant or Pumpkin On A Stick.  I like the latter term, personally.  I knew it was a Solanum, since it has the same type of flowers as potatoes and tomatoes.  It is technically edible yet very bitter, usually just used as decoration but not poisonous in a stir-fry.  I won't be tasting it though, since it may have been exposed to pesticides in the greenhouse.  Here it is, happy in its new pot and no longer wilted.

Leprechaun Frog is tipping his hat to the new addition to the garden.

Autumn is my favorite season, and this Pumpkin On A Stick is a little early bit o' that autumn magic.

A Q-tip pollenator to help the pumpkins along

SLUG ATTACK!

First things first, a video:

This slug thought he could make improvements to our garden with his voracious appetite.  I found him while I was moving the smallest maple pot, and boy was he a surprise!  Most have been 1-1.5 inches long, and I have never seen a slug so big unless it was a banana slug in Santa Cruz... jeez, I couldn't help but think it was sentient.  This slug was possibly the original inspiration for this YouTube video.  I couldn't handle the thought of squishing the 4-inch beast, so I tossed him over the fence into more fertile grounds.  So long, Monster Slug, I hope you find whatever you're looking for in someone else's garden. 

I was trying to take a photo of him next to the measurements on the trowel for proof, but he was moving so fast that all the pictures were blurry... a video is more interesting anyway.

 Monster Slug is too cool for photography crispness!

It's a shame that I had to get rid of it... it's just the kind of crazy animal I would have kept as a pet if we weren't mortal enemies.  Spots like that are too beautiful to ignore.

Purple Pupa

I found this yesterday after having accidentally knocked it loose with the hose from its webbed hiding spot in a corner against the house.  It is really purple, the exact same dusty-reddish-purple color that a wine grape gets right before it is fully ripe.  I have looked at pages and pages of pupa photos online, but can't figure out what it is!  There are red ones, green ones, black ones, brown ones, even some with bright blue spots... but no purple?  There is a solution to this, and the solution is putting it in a mason jar (with air flow, of course), to see what it turns into.  My guess is a moth or giant beetle... it looks very much like moth pupae online, but also very much like the pupae that the gecko's mealworms morph into (except twice as large, and PURPLE).

It is an inch long, and I propped it up on the curve of a teacup plate so that you could see the underside.

A side view.

Here you can see the pores on each of the "tail" segments.

Can anyone identify this before it hatches?  I am totally curious.

Ladybug hides unsuccessfully