True Confessions of a Nature Lover

So those of you who know me or follow my blog know that nature is my lifeforce
and inspiration.  You will be familiar with the subject matter I enjoy photographing
below:








There are a few of nature’s creatures that make my skin curl away from its flesh
and send my breathing into unrecognizable convulsions.  I only need to read or
hear the word Maggots and instantly my ears are filled with the sounds of
writhing and my nostrils contract with malodorous memory.
I make no apologies for that!

June Bug’s white grubs are unpleasant to find in the lawn but can be quickly dealt
with a heavy squash of my boot.  The brown flying beetles which actually hatch in May
in Ontario are another story.  Their shells battering and cracking against a screen window
remind me that when I go outside, a few of these creatures are likely to fly right into
my face or even worse, land on my skin and crawl along with their rough, sticky feet until
I send them flying into the woods with a smack of the back of my hand.  How can a
butterfly navigate through the woods missing numerous branches, clumps of needles and
leaves yet a June Bug cannot make it across an empty one hundred square foot field without
hitting me in the face?

I know I am not alone with my displeasure of spring’s Black Flies and
Mosquitoes and Summer’s Deer Flies and their desire for human tissue and blood!

I think though, if prizes were being awarded, my least favourite garden visitor
is the Tomato Hornworm.  Yes, you may say the Five-spotted Hawk Moth
is attractive but NOT when she is laying her eggs on my tomato plants! 


When the eggs hatch their young leaf-green caterpillars emerge like little
inch worms, yes the cute ones that Danny Kaye sings about “Measuring
the Marigolds”.  However, the baby Hornworms have one purpose and that is
to eat constantly, day and night taking short naps until they are the size of a
cocktail sausage. They burrow into the earth, form a cocoon and hatch as moths
next season.
The gardener will notice a few tomato plant leaves with significant holes but the
young caterpillars are difficult to spot, exactly matching the green plant stalks in size
and colour.  Within a couple of days however, all leaves and any green tomatoes will
be devoured.  These horrid creatures do not smoke pipes and give wise advice like
The Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland!
To remove and destroy them in a method of your choice is a nasty chore
requiring gloves or, if you are me, a husband to do it for you.  Picking these three-
four inch monsters off your tomatoes, is like touching a three day old piece of
swollen rigatoni in the kitchen sink when you have a hangover.  Need I say more?



My tomatoes were destroyed this year.  We watched these Tomato Hornworms
triple in size in two days!

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