​Because the seasonality of insects is ecologically linked with the seasonality of plants, we record vernal plant growth to estimate when to expect certain insects and grow and familiarize ourselves with useful Lepidoptera host plants.

​Established Plants:

​Because the seasonality of insects is ecologically linked with the seasonality of plants, we record prevernal plant growth to estimate when to expect certain insects and grow and familiarize ourselves with useful Lepidoptera host plants.

The California pipevines (Aristolochia californica) have begun to grow new shoots and flowers, meaning there should be pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor hirsuta) eggs on them soon.

Like most other deciduous plants in our area, the California pipevines up in the hills are beginning to regrow their leaves and flowers as the weather warms. This plant is the sole host of the northern California pipevine swallowtail subspecies, Battus philenor hirsuta, and thus its regrowth is soon followed by the flight of these swallowtails which will lay large egg clusters on the growing shoots of the vine. It is very important that the vine be in a growing state because the butterflies refuse to oviposit on mature leaves, and the young larvae have trouble eating them. In fact, this is one of the prime reasons (the other being diapause) why the numbers of the butterfly decline in late summer when most pipevines cease growth, since the females have no where to lay their eggs on. Thus, spring time is the absolute best time to look for these eggs, as the butterflies will not only have a large flight due to all previous year generations breaking out of diapause, but because the pipevines are in the prime of their growth. Many of the pipevines right now are already covered in leaf buds and new vine shoots, while some are still covered in large masses of pipe-shaped flowers. Once these flowers fall off, those vines will also begin putting on vigorous  vegetative growth as well. If the pipevine swallowtails were already in flight now, we're almost certain that these growing shoots would be clobbered with bright orange-red eggs, but we'll probably have to wait a few weeks for that. 

While we were up in the hills looking at California pipevines, we also took a quick look at some of the oak (Quercus) and ceanothus (Ceanothus) for any polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus) or ceanothus moth (Hyalophora  euryalus) cocoons, but unsurprisingly we found nothing as these species, especially H. euryalus, seem to have a very sparse distribution around here, and we don't have much expertise in finding wild cocoons in the winter. We also came across a California hop tree (Ptelea crenulata) beginning to regrow which might be useful for some swallowtails and Rothschildia sp. if we get any.

​Because the seasonality of insects is ecologically linked with the seasonality of plants, we record prevernal plant growth to estimate when to expect certain insects and familiarize ourselves with useful Lepidoptera host plants.

Our grapevine (Vitis sp.) cuttings are beginning to grow leaves.

After a a week or so since we saw signs of these cuttings begin to bud and five weeks since we collected them, they are beginning to put out new leaves. However, none have any rooted yet. These leaves look very vigorous and green, nothing like the nearly abscised crap we were forced to feed our achemons with last September/October that resulted in them being not nearly as large as they could have been (but still reasonable, at least). Hopefully, we can get our achemon rearing going again this year and feed them the good stuff; we know a ton of incredibly nice grapevine places around here that should be in leaf in a month or so that we're dying to make use of.

​Because the seasonality of insects is ecologically linked with the seasonality of plants, we record prevernal plant growth to estimate when to expect certain insects and familiarize ourselves with useful Lepidoptera host plants.

We attempt to grow gapevines (vitis sp.) from dormant cuttings this year.

About a month after collecting these grapevine (Vitis) cuttings and placing them in a vase of water indoors, several of them are beginning to bud, though there is no root growth yet. We also have a some other cuttings a few weeks older than these stuck in a pot with soil outside, but those have not yet shown any signs of growth. Vitis will mainly be useful for Eumorpha species, such as our E. achemon. These cuttings will definitely not be able to support a large clutch of larvae in their first year, but they will probably be great for getting the moths to lay eggs on.

​Because the seasonality of insects is ecologically linked with the seasonality of plants, we record prevernal plant growth to estimate when to expect certain insects and familiarize ourselves with useful Lepidoptera host plants.

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• Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) - a large amount of blossoms have fallen off; beginning to focus more on leaf growth; branches are already quite green with young leaves
• Purple-leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Krauter Vesuvius') -  a large amount of blossoms have fallen off; many branches look like they are in full leaf already; overall the tree looks mostly full and red 
• Apple (Malus sp.) - both trees have just reached bud break, with small green leaves emerging at the apical buds of branches, especially the younger ones, all around the tree
• Rose (Rosa sp.) - has grown a lot slower than we had imagined; the leaves have enlarged but other than that the lateral shoots aren't really budging; we pinched the apical shoots of some of the most vigorous branches to encourage the lateral ones to grow; this plant is not useful for most commonly reared Lepidoptera, though it is a great host for Carausius morosus and other Phasmatodea
• Glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum) - these one year old seedlings are beginning to take off now that we cleared away all the weeds that were smothering them for the past year; we may need to relocate and spread them though as lucidum is a large and quick growing variety; if we manage to get these plants to a decent size, they will be very useful for feeding most Attacini larvae (classic universal feeder for this group, especially in Europe), some other Saturniidae and Sphingidae, and possibly Pterourus group swallowtails
• Lilac (Syringa sp.) - large bunches of purple buds have emerged and leaf shoots have enlarged; might be in bloom next week
• Passion flower (Passiflora sp.) - after pruning away all the dead vines from last year (about 80% of the plant), this passion vine has begun to regenerate recently, with vigorous new shoots all over the main vines; will be useful for Agraulis vanillae and katydids
• Fuyu persimmon (Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu') - A few buds have enlarged and become green; will reach bud break soon; can be used for a few Saturniids
• Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) - has reached bud break, with minute green leaves emerging on virtually every branch
• Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - continue to have vigorous leaf growth
• Willow (Salix sp.) - branches more densely covered in leaves now; the denser ones have lost their catkins and are beginning to focus on leaf growth

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• Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) - more blossoms; leaf shoots are vigorous and have enlarged 
• Purple-leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Krauter Vesuvius') - in full bloom; branches already densely covered in small leaves and will be in full leaf soon
• Lilac (Syringa sp.) - buds continue to enlarge and become purple
• Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - extremely vigorous new leaf growth after just two weeks since pruning to base; main use of this plant is to attract and host Papilio zelicaon
• Willow (Salix sp.) - branches covered in small vigorous leaf shoots and catkins; these willows have historically been very extremely vigorous and quick growing so should be in full leaf soon despite breaking dormancy just this week; can be useful for various tree - feeding lepidoptera such as Smerinthus sp., Hyalophora cecropia,  Papilio rutulus, etc.

- Alan

We don't usually write about anything other than insects on here (it's an insect blog after all), but since botany and entomology go pretty much hand in hand, it doesn't hurt to talk about plants once in a while. Because most insects are herbivores, the seasonality of their life cycles correlates strongly with the seasonality of plants. Thus, we always make sure to keep a good eye out for when the trees begin to break winter dormancy and plants begin to grow again so we know when to expect certain insects. Here in Albany, CA (and much of the state), the winters are extremely short and relatively warm, and thus trees begin to grow as early as February unlike most other places in the country where you usually have to wait until April or May.

Plum trees are usually the first of the fruit trees around here to bud, opening hundreds of blossoms in the course of a week or two followed by leaf growth. Just a week, our cherry plum tree (Prunus cerasifera) was only just starting to get flower and leaf buds all over its branches, and now it is covered in blossoms and leaf shoots. Once the blossoms fade, we can expect it to be green in a few weeks for our cecropias to feed on.

Some other trees in our backyard that are breaking dormancy are our rose (Rosa sp.) and lilac (Syringa sp.), which had no traces of green two weeks ago. Rose grows quickly and will probably be nice and bushy in a couple weeks. Our lilac tree is quite small and hasn't done very well in past years (it hardly bloomed last year), but this year it looks like it has a lot of buds that are budding and will probably open in the coming weeks.

Our lemon tree (Citrus limon) has been heavily pruned this year despite that citrus trees shouldn't be pruned much, simply because it is a very old tree and was becoming unhealthy so we wanted to reinvigorate it. Citrus trees are tropical and subtropical plants so they grow in response to rainfall changes and not temperature changes, but since this time of year also happens to be the rainy season, you can see the tree is beginning to grow and has several new shoots. Lemon tree shoots typically have a high concentration of anthocyanin which gives them a purple color while most other citrus are just green. 

We also have two apple trees (Malus sp.) in our back yard, one of which is quite large and vigorous in the summer while the other is sort of scraggly and only moderately vigorous. Right now both appear dormant with no signs of green, though it is possible that the buds are enlarging but we're not quite sure. Historically, they should start blossoming in March and have leaves by April, so it's still a bit early. However, it has been an especially cold and overcast February this year which may cause they to blossom a few weeks later than usual, but we'll see. Hopefully they will be ready in time for our cecropias which we anticipate to hatch some time in late March. 

- Alan