Marie, I noticed them today too. They are making lace out of my Hollyhocks, that's pretty well the only plant they are eating so far. Wish I knew what they were too, never had this pest before.

Sharon

Can you post a picture?

Shauna

It wouldn't be forest tent caterpillars would it? The are kinda blue/black/grey with white dots. And they're about 2-3" long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Tent Caterpillars

Remember all those Painted Lady Butterflies we all noticed early June, I have a funny feeling these might be the caterpillars... Artemisia and Hollyhocks are some host plants.
I'll take a photo tomorrow to verify ;)

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Painted Lady Caterpillar

I found a butterfly just emerging from a chrysalis on Saturday. It is right near my bur oak tree, which apparently, is one of the foodsources for this butterfly. For some reason, the picture won't upload to photobucket. I even reduced it down and no go. Anyway, does the caterpillar look like the ones in this link? I haven't found any caterpillars, yet, but I will look tomorrow.

Shauna

Here is a link that might be useful: Mourningcloak butterfly

You are probably right, Sharon. The Mourningcloak caterpillar tends to attack more shrubs and tree species. Sounds like the Painted Ladies tend to go toward the ornamentals like your hollyhocks and gazanias, etc. And we certainly had a high number of painted ladies this year.

Shauna

Well now I feel bad about killing what may have been the painted lady caterpillar. I guess I should have posted first and killed later. I didn't even think about such an ugly thing being anything desirable. Hopefully a few missed my killing spree. But I've seen lots of painted lady butterflies in past years and have never seen so much damage on such a variety of plants. Marie

I have them too-all over my teddy bear sunflowers, hollyhocks and globe thistle! I sprayed some insecticide before knowing what they were but actually it didn't seem to do much harm to them anyway. Hopefully they won't affect the plants blooming.

For sure, the caterpillars that are eating my Hollyhocks are Painted Ladies.....oh well, they're just Hollyhocks, I'm not too worried about the damaged they are causing.
{{gwi:762792}}
Vanessa cardui Painted Lady Caterpiller/Larva
Notice the silk webbing and trap fecal pellets. Such a ugly looking creature, but will soon transform to a beautiful butterfly.

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Vanessa cardui

Thanks Sharon for posting the picture and the link. That definitely looks like what I had also. Another example of how helpful this forum is. I will be more careful in the future about what I destroy. Marie