And So It Begins . . .

Seduced by the mention of Seeds from Italy over on my friend Louise's blog, I placed an order -- Pomodoro Costoluto Fiorentino and Pomodoro Cuor di Bue (Beef Heart tomato,)  Cima di Rapa (or, more prosaically, sprouting turnip top,) a lovely Lemon Leopold sunflower, Black Tuscan Kale, Chioggia beets, cucumbers, green beans . . . 

I can hardly wait! 

The Impostor

I was busy in the garden, picking tomatoes, getting in the rest of the corn -- what ears the raccoons had left --  as well as okra and eggplant -- some of which are white and do, indeed, look like eggs --  and picking squash, cucumbers, and beans, when I saw this critter on a bean leaf. 

Ir looked kind of like a bumble bee . . . but then again . . .

Then again . . .  this one below is a bumble bee, this fella on the sunflower.  The one on the bean leaf has club-shaped antennae like a moth and the set of its wings is quite different.

Off to Mr. Google where I typed in bee and moth and voila! . . . found out that the impostor bee was a Bumblebee Moth -- of the family of Sphinx moths. His bumblebee looks protect him from many predators.

He's also known as a Hummingbird Moth because of his habit of hovering to feed from flowers. (I've seen them doing this before but only in motion and at a distance and hadn't noticed the bee disguise.)

Isn't Nature nifty?