At our little homestead we have more than enough canyon grape vines (Vitis arizonica) to share with the voracious caterpillars of the western grape skeletonizer. That said, I doubt I’ll get an invitation to be a spokesperson for the vintners of the Willcox wine region (the wine capitol of Arizona!) if I’m heard happily jabbering about western grape skeletonizers. But listen, I suspect the vineyards have Harrisina metallica pretty well figured out and I learned that there are organic ways to deal with these native rascals in a vineyard setting. Problem solved.
The photos are mine. The moth is on the flowers of white brush (Aloysia gratissima) blooming conveniently below some canyon grape in our yard. The munching caterpillars look like they’re wearing colorful striped sweaters.
You know you haven’t been hiking or botanizing out in the desert or grassland enough when you look to the roadsides for interesting plants,...
Berberis fremontii is in the Barberry family or Berberidaceae. If you look up barberry plants in a field guide, a flora or on line,...
One of my favorite forests of chain-fruit cholla, also called jumping cholla, was in the desert on the north end of the Tortolita Mountains....
