Looked for a Cat, Found a Frog

A couple of days ago, I spotted this green caterpillar nicely camouflaged as it munched away on an arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) leaf.

Unknown caterpillar snacks on arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum 'Chicago Lustre') leaf

So this morning, I thought I would take another look at the shrub to see if I could spot the caterpillar again.

Couldn't find it, but I did discover this little fella looking quite at home on a leafy perch!

I think this might be a young eastern gray treefrog, but I'm no herpetologist!

I was so happy to see a frog in my garden for the first time ever! :)

Bees, Soldier Beetles, Cats and Butterflies - Oh My!

Carpenter bee on reblooming Vitex agnus-castus (chaste tree)

Can you spot the Very Fuzzy Caterpillar?

How about now? It's a milkweed tussock moth (a.k.a. milkweed tiger moth) on a swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

Two milkweed tussock caterpillars also seem happy to feed on a different species of milkweed - Asclepias viridis (green antelopehorn)

Soldier beetle on false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

Butterflies like to feed on false sunflower too!

They also feed on blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora)

Cutest. Caterpillar. Ever.

My, what big eye spots you have, Papilio troilus!

Remember a little while ago when I posted about a mystery seedling that had popped up next to my house?

I thought it looked a little like a sassafras (Sassafras albidum), but I couldn't be sure because the leaves were simple/entire, whereas sassafras usually has lobed, mitten-shape leaves.

One wise gardener (shout out to Laurrie!) who commented on my original post thought the mystery plant could be a spicebush (Lindera benzoin), which did seem like a reasonable possibility.

Well, I happened to go outside one day about a week ago and spot this large, adorable caterpillar resting on a leaf.

"Ah ha!," I thought. "This is a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. Which means, this must be a spicebush."

(Yeah, Sherlock Holmes ain't got nothing on me.)

Except, of course, that I was wrong. When I looked more deeply on the WWW, I found that the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar munches not just on spicebush leaves, but also feeds on other species including sassafras!!

So, I was back to square one in terms of not knowing the identity of my seedling, except that when I kept a close eye on it, I noticed that it had started producing lobed mitten-shaped leaves.

Here you can see all three types of sassafras leaves - three-lobed, mitten-shaped and entire/simple (no lobes). Mystery solved!

Yep, mystery (truly) solved -- I'm ready to call it as Sassafras albidum.  (So that means Laura Bigbee-Fott was right with her plant ID. Thanks Laura!)

Which means, I will need to transplant it, because having a tree that can grow 30 to 40 feet tall growing 6 inches from your house is Not a Good Idea.

Will it survive transplantation? I don't know, but I've got nothing to lose by trying and a nice native tree to gain for the landscape if it works out.

PS - I'm a little worried about sassfras' reported tendency to sucker, but I think I'll take that risk and try keeping it anyway. It's supposed to be a beautiful tree and I'd love to see more of those caterpillars and the beautiful swallowtail butterflies they become.

Spicebush swallowtail caterpillar all grown up (photo by Elizabeth Nicodemus)

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