Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Purple Petal Eaters Have Struck Again!*

The vast majority of my purple coneflowers have had every single flower petal eaten, leaving these very cool looking 'cones' behind. They almost look like a globe thistles right now, which is fine with me, to tell you the truth. A friend of mine, Liz, lives 15 miles away and reports the same thing has happened in her yard. Who are these purple petal eaters, lol? 

* With all due respect to Sheb Wooley and his 1958 hit, Purple People Eaters. When I was a very cute, very well-behaved youngster in the mid '60s, lol, my parents and I would eat at a local pizzeria at least once a month. The jukebox had Wooley's song on it, and I absolutely insisted that we play it every time. My mother on the other hand, always played Big Bad John, by Jimmy Dean. I remember Jimmy Dean mostly for his role as Willard Whyte in James Bond's Diamonds Are Forever. Well, that and his breakfast sausages.

10 comments:

  1. Casey, I think your using a Lecia to take your pictures.
    I'm convinced :)

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  2. thanks Woody, I wish! it's a Kodak EasyShare C340 5.1 megapixel. Photoshop CS4 makes everything better! For years it was my job to make all the photos in the books I designed look better than they really were, so the books looked better than they should for the price the publisher paid for the photos. I can make almost anything look decent as a result.

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  3. Hey, Casey, I am going to email ME to you...so you can work your Photoshop magic. ;-)

    I wonder who the purple people eater is munching your coneflowers? They sure do a thorough job.

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  4. Casey, I think it would be interesting to see a raw of yours go up against a CS4 special.

    I downloaded a photoshop demo and was lost.

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  5. PERFECT PICTURE.

    HOPE YOUR FEELING BETTER.

    GRANNY

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  6. I think what was left behind by the petal eaters would look lovely in an arrangement. More lemonade from lemons.

    I Googled coneflower and petals - it's like a game of Clue. Who done it? Goldfinches, Asiatic Beetles, earwigs or a terminal plant disease?

    Some theories:

    "I think it is the Goldfinch. I have watched them tearing out petals of Sunflowers to get to the seeds, and they do the same thing with my zinnias and Indian Summer."

    "I was out last night looking for Asiatic Beetles that have been chewing on Hibiscus flowers and checked out my Echinacea and sure enough there were a few on those, eating the petals. Asiatic Beetles are a solid red color, almost mahogany. They are medium size, about the third the size of a Japanese Beetle or a little smaller and are fairly slow moving. Easy to pick off and drop into soapy water. I noticed they've also been eating lantana and basil. It could also be earwigs which are also out at night and are also easy to knock into a cup of soapy water."

    "This is a phytoplasma disease (no known cure) that is spread by leafhoppers."

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  7. thanks for the comments everyone! i'm getting a late start today, so I'm sorry they didn't get posted in a timely manner.

    It just might be Goldfinches. I've seen more than usual this year, and the coneflowers are right below the bird feeders and near the Thistles they love. Haven't noticed too many beetles now that the tiger lilies are done. The japanese beetles decimated those this year.

    Raw vs PS-ed photos. interesting! I might do that. it will be sort of exposing the Wizard of Oz though, lol.

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  8. CASEY, I'VE DECIDED THAT YOU AND A COUPLE OF THE GUYS WOULD BE GREAT TEACHERS. I'VE LEARNED ALOT FROM YOU ALL. MY PROBLEM IS KEEPING IT IN MY BRAIN. LONG TERM MEMORY IS FINE. SHORT TERM WELL WHAT CAN I SAY. ALMOST GONE. LOL

    GRANNY

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  9. I think the Internet is a GREAT learning tool. I can't imagine my life without it. And I have great readers/comment-ers here, don't I?

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  10. YES SWEETIE YOU DO. TIME FOR MY NAP.

    GRANNY

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