I caught sight of this guy on my Agastache.
I caught sight of this guy on my Agastache, and now that I have a new camera I was – for the first time in four years up here – able to get some decent images of an insect. The cross-like pattern on the back of this moth means that it’s easy to find on the internet – “moth with cross on back” will do it. It’s a Clymene moth, Haploa clymene. My source notes that it uses the Eupatorium genus as a host – it would make sense then that it would appear at my garden, because I’ve added three species of Eupatorium here – maculatum, fistulosum, and coelestinum – and two others have colonized my property now that I’ve made a clearing for them (rugosum and perfoliatum). Here it’s enjoying the sweet fragrance of an Agastache foeniculum, an excellent butterfly/moth plant. The pattern on his back is gorgeous, and reminds me just as much of a Franciscan habit as of a cross. 
2 Comments
Lovely!
Hi John, Nice tale of the moth! Meg and I came up to Claymont and cleared out most of the fallen tree debris on the trail in the North Woods, all with a hand saw. It was good hard work and quite wiped me out! Still more to do but this will have to wait for another visit. Being here with no one around is quite wonderful despite the noise from a nearby raceway. Perhaps a group of us can come up for a day to finish the job. Perhaps, too, we might prune out the apple orchard and clean up some other sections of the property as well. Any suggestions? And what about that bear? Hope you are doing well.
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