One spring I planted verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ as a “filler” plant in some flower beds around our house. This verbena performed well and the deep purple blooms were lovely. I cut a flower stem one morning and placed it in a single bud vase with a tag on it that reads “Bloom Where You Are Planted.”
- verbena ‘Homestead Purple’
The flower graced my desk for a day or so before I noticed the tiny egg on one of the florets.
- Gray Hairstreak egg on verbena ‘Homestead Purple’
A Gray Hairstreak caterpillar emerged from the egg, and discovered that verbena florets are tasty.
- Gray Hairstreak caterpillar on verbena ‘Homestead Purple’
The “very hungry” caterpillar ate and ate, then one day it disappeared. It was no longer on the flower. Oops! Did a spider get it?
Many of the florets were gone by now, and it was time to dispose of the old flower. Thinking the caterpillar might still be there hiding somewhere, I put the spent flowerhead back into the garden where I had cut it. I forgot about it.
A week or two later, I walked into my office and clinging to a window curtain was a Gray Hairstreak looking fresh and perky. The missing caterpillar had crawled off the plant, as most do, and had pupated somewhere in my office. Then, protected from most predators, it changed into a lovely adult and perched on my curtain. It did not like being caught, but life in an office would be surreal, so it was released outside to the garden—unprotected, but free.
©Rita Venable 2011
