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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Katydids: Welcome to My Garden

Now that my meditation garden is done I have begun work on a little garden full of blooming flowers. It's not a large space but is enough room to pack full of blossoms for the bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds to stop and grab a snack as they go about their busy days... I love garden critters. I love the beautiful ones and even the ones most people consider pests like snails, spiders, slugs and katydids.
While many people consider them to be pests I love having katydids in my garden. They are more elegant then grasshoppers and locusts, chirp like crikets and move along at a sloth's pace as they amble through the leaves and branches in our yard. They're so cool how they look like leaves and this one was huge.

Last night I noticed a katydid hanging from the back patio window before I went to bed. This morning I went out looking for him and sure enough there it was on my patio. I was a little concerned because it should be living in the bushes so it has things to eat so I picked some leaves and grass and set them out.

This one was almost 2.5 inches long. With the antennae it was well over 3 inches. I have bugs like this in my yard because I never use pesticides. This makes my whole yard a little mini ecosystem where pests fall to the fate of being consumed by those bigger and badder then themselves or dying of old age.

Though the Katydid did walk over to the leavs and grass I offered it, it just walked on by and didn't stop for a snack. I hope it doesn't starve to death.

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