Choice Morsels

 The Garden Pic today is one of my Gerber's putting up a fall bloom! Here in Florida, Gerber tend to bloom in both spring & fall, but not during the heat of summer. A couple days later...s ame Gerber, but with an empty Cicada shell underneath.  At first I thought it might be a sleeping bee, but on closer look saw it was just a cicada shell. It's just an Annual Cicada, which have a green tint to there wings. The adult die off in winter. A nymphs like this pop out from underground, craw up something to hatch the winged adult.  A few pop-up now and again thru-out the year and take to the trees to find a mate to start the process all over. I've   found at least 3 shells on my grill cover this year. The other kind, the 17 year type have a red tint to wings and a slimmer body shape.

This weeks Garden Pic is a fantastic shot of this Annual Cicada I happened to find fluttering around my garden two weeks ago! I think it was probably recently emerged and still getting a feel for it's newly dried wings!  Catching a shot like this is actually relatively rare.  Once emerged, Cicadas normally take to the high tree branches, where males will trill to attract mates. Normally, I only hear them high above or find their discarded shell on the side of some tree. Like butterflies, Cicada's go through a metamorphosis to attain this winged form.  Annual Cicada's are black and green.