Icouldn’t resist…if only the hair was better!
It is amazing how advertising have turned the Weebles’ inherently disturbing expressions into Weeble-cuteness over the years, “Weebles Wobble, but they don’t fall down”.
Don’t they indeed?
“I am your number one fan”…
Lets face it, Weebles were never cute…Grandma Weeble looks like she would be equally as comfortable wielding a sledgehammer instead of her knitting needles?
I recently succumbed to some cute deception myself, not from a Weeble, not from a Sméagol, but from a Weevil.
“Nasty insulting Espatches”
Unlike Weebles, weevils do fall down. They usually fall on their backs with their legs, and antennae tucked-in-tight to play dead in response to any potential threat, just like a possum. The weird snout antennae fold neatly into a secret groove chiseled into the side of its curved snout.
Very cute…or is he?
I say it is a ‘he’, as female weevil’s snouts can be longer than their body which is never true for males.
“How dare you ESPatch!!!”
I am only too familiar with the black, snout-nosed, agave weevil.
(The Evil Weevil)
This monster has been the demise of many an East-Side-Patch agave in the past:
https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2011/03/the-evil-weevil/
But this new little chap was different, less Darth Vadery,
and more ‘Clangery’.
This spared his life.
I knew he was most likely a bad guy but I had to look him up before giving him a good old-fashioned sandal whacking.
(Which I didn’t, it had moved on).
This is the genus Curculio, a nut and acorn weevil.
Females use their extra long snouts to bore into the nuts and acorns, before depositing an egg. The grublike larva hatches and eats the interior of the acorn, then it pupates, chewing its way out of the nut or fruit as an adult beetle…ingenious!
Wait, how does it get the egg into the bored hole?
That has got to be a bit tricky?
The interior of a nut sounds like a cozy place to grow bigger. A tiny wood burning stove at one end, and a firefly in a jar in the corner to illuminate yet another monotonous plate of delicious, nutritious ‘nut’…
Okay that would get old pretty fast.
Sounds like ‘van-life’.
Moving ‘sharply’ along:
This grapefruit tree has been one long pruning, and flesh puncturing saga.
It has 1 in” long thorns everywhere, and I mean everywhere! If this one had gotten much larger, I would’ve had to resort to the ‘funeral-pyre-and-tarp’ process that I used on my front Vitex some time back…not something I recommend.
https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2017/01/the-funeral-pyre/
Incidentally, when you do prune a grapefruit tree, it will grow exponentially fast where the cuts take place. This one invariably had a fresh and unwelcomed mohawk coming out the top of it all the time.
I tried cutting the limbs, but even my hook-saw barely made a dent…what are these things made of?
If you think your agaves are a tad on the sharp side, or you occasionally swear at your “soft” leafed yucca or barrel cactus for giving you the occasional puncture wound, be thankful you did not plant a grapefruit tree.
There is a reason why these trees are occasionally given away free at large box stores!
On a softer note…
Ruby Grass, ‘pink crystals’
Melinis nerviglumis
One of my absolute favorite small grasses for parched exposed areas.
It may be small, it may look delicate, but this grass is as tough as nails.
It is also very tough to photograph the iridescent sheen on the newer seed heads, as they move on the slightest breeze.
Mine are all growing directly in decomposed granite mixed with some amendment soil. They self-seed readily, but are very easy to pull out and control where they are not desired.
For now, I am letting mine spread all over the place between my Rostrata, knockout roses,
and Gulf Muhly in my front garden.
Muhlenbergia Capillaris
Gulf Muhly is putting out some great burgundy fall color right now.
They can get quite large, stunning in the light.
I have been propagating these Agave Lophantha Quadicolor for some years now. I have been replanting the pups, of which there are many, and repositioning them in front of what has to be one of the ugliest sotols in horticultural history. (If not the entire history of the natural world).
Look at it lurking in the background, it also moves around in the night!
Aw, COME ON!
Why do I even still have this?
I wince every time I walk past it. I mean, when was it set on fire? Who set it on fire?
What are those amber lumps…it’s eyes? It looks like Urko from Planet of the Apes, that is, if Urko had replaced his already ridiculous hat with a sotol for a more dramatic cinematic effect.
“Its going to be a bumpy electoral ride”
Also, there is only one small tap root underneath this mess, hence ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ is wedged tightly under it to keep it semi-upright…it still moves and rolls around all the time.
Glad someone finds it funny.
Dirty rat.
Stay Tuned For:
“Austin Powers”
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