A few years back I planted a Sweet Almond Bush. The tag said it would hit around 5 feet in my grow zone. But its been really warm and the bush quickly grew into a small tree, hitting around 10 feet. I am not loving the size of the bush where I planted it, and have been debating pruning hard, and transplanting. But now I feel guilty. Because of these polka dotted passerby.
This is a Polka Dot Wasp Moth. But do not let the name fool you this is no wasp. It is a moth all the way, no stinger just a very red tip that really catches the eye. This moth really loves Oleander which used to be a very common plant in Florida. But then word got out that Oleander while beautiful is very poisonous. So many gardeners ripped them out of their yards. In fact my neighborhood went from having a lot of it 15 years ago, to only a couple of yards.
So this show off of a moth, now has less of a food supply. Imagine my surprise when I went to prune back my way too happy Sweet Almond and found a swarm of these guys flying around, savoring the profuse blooms.
They are very docile, and do not mind you getting up close to watch them voraciously eat. And I know they have less of a food supply. Their caterpillars are very vigorous, so if they do decide to try and host on this bush, they are actually doing me a bit of a favor.
So for now I will sacrifice some garden aesthetics for a swarm of polka dots.
