STILL NIBBLING IN from THE SIDES

I told you about the way the cattypillars are munching pretty little round holes in the sides of the Red Bud tree leaves, starting at the edges and moving in towards the center.

Munching in from the sides – © LYON 2025

I have been amazed that that hasn’t changed. I fully expected them to start wandering all over the leaf surfaces, leaving little round chewy holes all over the entire leaf.

But nope! They continue to wend their way to the middle of the leaves by only eating the edges! And they don’t even come near the veins!

So what you have is a series of round bites getting closer and closer to the veins and the center, but leaving a good half inch of unmolested leaf as a kind of DMZ.

It makes me wonder if these catties have a kind of mouth that can only chew something presented to them on edge, rather than a drilling kind of mouth. I wish I knew what kind of cattypillars they are.

So here they are, all fat and happy with their feasts. Sitting along with the red roses that are still trying valiantly to keep flourishing despite the heat and dry air, slowly dying a slow demise on the vines.

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