Flowers beside the road

[Rogan]

I was delighted to find this most charming of Gladiolus species, G. alatus , right beside the road in the Cedarberg mountains of the Western Cape. Can you spot the nasty critter devouring the flowers? It's a bagworm - that small bunch of 'sticks' just left of and below the central flower.

[Maggi Young]

Fab Glad., Rogan.... ghastly critter! So it's called a "bagworm"..... looks like a bunch of sticks.... what the blazes IS it? My first reaction was some kind of moth.... but why would that be a bagworm?   More info please!!

I am really thinking that we must seek out seed of these little gladious species to try here in Aberdeen. They are so showy   Is it Brian E. who has shown some in his collection in England... are they in the open garden? Must find out

   Edit: "Is it Brian E. who has shown some in his collection in England.."... no, I've lost the plot, again. It was Fermi in Australia!!

[Rogan]

A bagworm is a species of caterpillar which spins a bag of silk to which it attaches lengths of stick as camouflage. It attaches the bag to a suitable support and hangs upside-down from where it munches everything in sight. When it has consumed all it can reach it detaches itself and moves off by emerging partway from the bag and then dragging itself along the ground - quite comical! There are many species of bagworm - all interesting, hungry little creatures. I have no idea what the moth looks like though.

[Anthony Darby]

The species of bagworm I have seen in the UK have drab little moths, but the female doesn't emerge. She mates whilst still entombed in the bag and the resulting caterpillars munch their way out. Interesting, as in all(?) other insects eggs are only fertilised during the process of laying. Like seeds, they have a micropyle and sperm is stored in a bursa copulatrix.

[Susan Band]

Maggi, I have some Gladiolus dalenii flowering now from Silverhills seed, bought after they were here at the discussion weekend. They haven't taken long to get to flowering size. I can't offer you seed as I picked the flowers for the house , I can however bring along some corms for you at the Oct. weekend. Remind me.

[Maggi Young]

Susan, very good of you, thanks!!

[David Shaw]

No worms though, Susan. We don't want Maggies bag to disintegrate!

[Maggi Young]

We don't want Maggies bag to disintegrate

Indeed we do not, David, it is too pretty to suffer that fate:


You'll see it features a distant cousin of Miss Lily the Westie and shows how well my hollyhocks are doing, minus mildew!! 
It also show just about the ONLY two butterflies we've had this year

[mark smyth]

Gladioli reminds me of a supplier in England who had a web site of SA bulbs and then did a runner with everyone's money including me. World Bulbs maybe. He didnt pay suppliers either. Anyone else get ripped off?

[Lesley Cox]

The species of bagworm I have seen in the UK have drab little moths, but the female doesn't emerge. She mates whilst still entombed in the bag and the resulting caterpillars munch their way out. Interesting, as in all(?) other insects eggs are only fertilised during the process of laying. Like seeds, they have a micropyle and sperm is stored in a bursa copulatrix.

Yes, quite.

Mark, terrible horticultural things are always happening to you. Why is that? They never happen to me, not that I'm complaining

A lovely bag Maggi, Does it go everywhere with you?

[fermi de Sousa]

Rogan,
a lovely little glad.
Maggi,
I did post a pic last year but I didn't grow it! It was in the garden of Aaron and Yvonne Condon who are members of our local AGS Group.
Mark,
funnily enough, we had a similar rip off done many years ago by a chap acting as an agent for a Dutch Company(which I won't defame by naming them as it wasn't their fault!), offering their entire catalogue but forgetting that he had to "turn them round". He lost most of his stock - what was allowed into the country - he hadn't even checked with AQIS! And ended up owing many people lots of money - as far as I know they never got it back, but as I hadn't invested a lot I never found out.
So you got ripped off with someone selling Southern Hemisphere bulbs and we got ripped off by someone selling Northern hemisphere bulbs! There's a lesson in there somewhere!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

I guess you mean Viv, Fermi?

[fermi de Sousa]

Aaron is Viv's son.
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

So who is Yvonne? I thought you were doing a slip of the finger then. Is she Aaron's wife maybe?

[ChrisB]

Lovely bag Maggi - guess I'll be able to spot you if you are carrying that at the weekend!

Lovely glads here too!