Grasshopper shell

Vicki found this on the underside of an eggplant leaf. The hopper has molted and hopped along. We hope. 

Cicadoidea about ready to pop.

Moved the bird bath and found a bunch of sow bugs (pill bugs) and this big guy underneath

. Can't remember seeing one at this stage before. 

Black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar

Papilio polyxenes

This is one of three on one of our bronze fennel plants.

New knowledge to me: bronze fennel smells like anise/licorice to me. Faint unless you're really close, but pleasant. 

Harlequin bug nymph

Murgantia histrionica. Immature stage of a pretty but harmful stink bug. They feed on crucifers, including weeds in the mustard family, but if food gets scarce they go after garden plants. 

Buddleia davidii

Second season in our yard for this butterfly bush. It's huge. 

Echinacea purpurea

Gorgeous flower in the front bed. Had seen an emerald green fly/bee/wasp/something, but of course it had moved on by the time I got back out there. 

Assassin bug instar (nymph)

Here's an insect that visited the Scottish Club picnic last week. It's an immature stage of the assassin bug. Note the huge tube-shaped mouthparts. It tells soft-bodied insects: all the better for eating you, my dear. 

Ladybug or a relative?

Either way, spring must be almost here.

Bugged: can't remember the name.

Lee the Master Gardener identified this a year or two ago, but I forgot what it is. Grrr. This one showed up on a bicycle tire in our yard.

Lettuce be gardeners

Here's the first sprouts of lettuce in the sprouting room.

I (heart) Russian red kale

I keep hearing Vicki laugh when she walks down the hall. She had to stop by the front room and watch her plants grow.
This is the just sprouted kale