Gaura-goers

Stilt bugs; click for more detail.

Following yesterday’s post about downy gaura, Gaura parviflora, Pixilated2 commented that she uses a cultivar of Gaura lindheimeri as a “trap” to entice aphids away from her garden plants. She asked whether I’ve seen aphids on downy gaura in the wild, and I replied that I don’t believe I have. The insects that I’ve most often found on downy gaura are stilt bugs, so called for their long legs. Valerie Bugh was good enough to identify this mating pair as probably belonging to the genus Jalysus.

During a slide show that I gave to the Highland Lakes chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas in Marble Falls two days ago, a man asked whether I ever put an artificial background behind a subject to make it stand out; I answered that I never do. If you’re interested in learning how I obtained the natural but almost completely neutral background you see in today’s photograph, you can read points 1 and especially 2 in About My Techniques.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman