Virginia Creepers, For FOTD July 29, 2024

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One sort of Virginia Creeper
And here is Pasiano of the keen eye
Who is an expert at spotting the second sort of creeper––
And here is one more
To complete the day’s quartet.
Click on photos to enlarge.

Virginia Creeper is one one of my favorite plants as it quickly provides a complete cover over my terrace, and although it doesn’t flower, once a year for a month or so it does provide creepers of its own—these huge caterpillars that eventually turn into large moths that resemble hummingbirds so closely that I’ve only really ever identified one in the 23 years I’ve been relocating the larvae to my downhill lot. The caterpillars are so fascinating that I can’t bear to kill them, but in their larvae stage, they also produce bee bee-sized black poop pellets that cover the terrace and table and chairs below. If you want to see (and read) more about the caterpillars, go HERE.

Here is an image of hummingbird moth by Graehem Mountenay. I’ve never been able to capture one and have seen only one in 23 years. They must be present, though, judging by the dozens of their caterpillars that we remove from my Virginia creeper each year.

For Cee’s FOTD

21 thoughts on “Virginia Creepers, For FOTD July 29, 2024”

        1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

          Have you found that things have been disappearing or deleted things reappearing even after you’ve posted your post lately on WP? I’ve now posted a photo of the hummingbird moth at the end of my post but when I did, the entire post disappeared…except for the moth. I’ve now restored it all, but in other posts, photos I’ve deleted reappear later on. Strange..

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            1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              I’ll see if I can figure out how to do that. I know I have photos that are stored a number of times. I wonder if I erase some of them if they’ll erase the photo from the blog..or if it will stay because there is still a later copy of the photo there.

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  2. dennyho's avatardennyho

    Your Virginia Creeper looks lovely as a patio canopy. Here, in Virginia, it grows EVERYWHERE, even in my garden, so I pull it to maintain a sense of decorum in the beds. But yours certainly are gorgeous! I’m curious…do you let it die out over the winter and then cut back for new growth in the spring? Wondering how it grows in your neck of the woods, Judy. Enjoy their shade.

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  4. SAM VOELKER's avatarSAM VOELKER

    For a long time I thought I had never seen one but then I realized that in flight they are difficult to tell from looking at a hummingbird. I finally saw one not flying and realized that this was a different thing all together. Once you see that you will start to see the difference.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Also called Tomato Hornworms, and they very much like Virginia Creeper. They wander its jungles trying to evade Pasiano. I need to plant some creeper below so they have somewhere to feed when I drop them over the wall. They are messy guests, as fascinating as OI find them to be.

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  7. SAM VOELKER's avatarSAM VOELKER

    Have Pisiano build you a cage with screen door wire, cut off a large Virginia creeper branch with the worms into it, and put fresh branches in each day, viola, ready made hummingbird moths~! be sure to let them out right away for them to feed and multiply and to get your photos.

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