Here's a picture of the rabbit's tobacco/Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, that's growing on the south side of the house. When I lived in the country, these plants never got over about a foot tall, because American ladies would start making nests on them and eating the leaves long before they got any bigger. This one is about three feet and still growing -

Sherry

Anna, technically pearly everlasting/Anaphalis margaritacea is different, but it's also known as western rabbit's tobacco, which sounds like they recognize how much it's like the eastern version. I've ordered and planted it, and it looks just like our eastern version, but it doesn't grow quite as well here. ALs lay their eggs on it just like they do rabbit's tobacco/ Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium. I would think it (Helichrysum) would be perfect for you in Zone 9B - they may not come back next spring for me here in Zone 8B. Many plants that don't overwinter here die because it stays too wet all winter, and the roots rot, but these are in a raised bed with fast drainage, so maybe they will come back. This is my first year to grow Helichrysum - I had read somewhere that ALs will use it, so I've been wanting to try it.

The only bad thing about having these caterpillars is that I won't get to see the cute little yellow Helichrysum flowers that look something like a yellow version of our rabbit's tobacco flowers. I'll take the loss for the cats, though!

During the cloudy morning, two of the cats ventured out a little bit from their nests. I was able to get this not so good picture -

Sherry

Great pictures! Love to learn from you! Today, I saw little nests on my Illinois bundle flower. I got all exited. Closer look showed just more broom moth caterpillars ready to pupate. They are showing up everywhere. There are a lot of their cocoons on my fig. At least I learned what that looks like.

Cool, Iris!

Sherry

I did plant Baptisia to be host plants, just not exactly for the broom moth. Didn’t see any caterpillars on my bundle flowers. They are here for 2 years. Patience.

I saw a wasp trying to get into one of the nests, so I brought in two AL caterpillars to finish raising myself. The Helichrysum is holding up well in the leftovers container.

Sherry

Sounds like you are going to be busy!

What does the AL pupate on? Does it need a stick or will it attach to a cloth enclosure? Just a couple of nights ago I watched on Nova about the migration of the Painted Lady Butterfly from sub-Sahara Africa to the Arctic Circle. AMAZING!!

ALs will pupate most anywhere, Anna - on the host plant, on a nearby plant, a stick in the cage, on the ceiling of the cage, etc. As far as I know, American ladies/Vanessa virginiensis don't migrate like painted ladies/V. cardui.

I put a side shoot of rabbit tobacco from the tall plant in the leftovers container (through holes in water) and let it lean on the branch one of the AL cats was on, and when I looked at it only about ?30 minutes later, it had started making a new nest on it. So I did the same with the other one, and the same thing happened. ALs may lay their eggs on Helichrysum, but it looks like they might still prefer the native plant. Of course, they may have just wanted fresh food - they spend their whole caterpillar lives making nests, abandoning them and making fresh ones.

I'm enjoying having caterpillars to raise again, even though I just have a few right now.

Sherry

I have a question, please. Thought I posted this half an hour ago, so I hope it is not showing up twice eventually. Found this one today, munching away out in the open. Why is it not in a nest? It’s in the lawn, so the plants are short. Is that the reason maybe?

It looks to be full size, Iris, so it's probably trying to find a place to pupate. It made nests somewhere, earlier.

Sherry

Wow, Iris thanks for the great photo!! I have never seen an American Lady caterpillar. They look like a beaded bracelet. Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Anna

Ha ha, Anna. This one missed the message to go pupate. He was still eating this morning. I am always so curious what is in these leaf rolls or pockets. Often I never find out. Last Summer I went out well after dark 3 days in a row to figure out what is rolling the leaves on the Canna.

I'm curious too, Iris. My neighbors are finally used to me roaming the yard at night with a flashlight. :)

I hope you can find the cats chrysalis when he pupates.

Anna

Congrats, Anna! Sometimes they come outside the nest, especially on cloudy days. I found an old picture of one -

And I found a picture of a more common gray chrysalis -

They also make a beautiful yellow/green one, but they're not nearly as common.

Sherry

Sadly, I have to report that ALL the American lady cats died. This has never happened to me before. I pulled up and threw out the Helichrysum, since that's the only difference I can find between this batch of AL cats and previous ones. I hope nobody else makes this mistake!

Sherry

Oh no! I am so sorry! Do you really think it was the plant? I am going to have to do some reading, I am still mixing all the cudweeds up.

I don't know that for sure, there just might have been something wrong with this group of ALs. I'm just not taking any chances.

Sherry

Sherry, it could have been a virus or bacteria. Did any of the cats turn black or parts of them turn black? Did they deflate and get mushy? A virus can move fast and there is nothing you can do. And it's not just from raising them in enclosures. I've seen many Monarch cats whole, dead, black and dangling from milkweed in the garden.

It's so upsetting when it happens. I'm very sorry you lost them.

Anna