Loving Garland Green members could not make up our minds regarding the best monster among the three submitted by the three second grade classes at Watson Tech so we chose all three as winners.  Here they are:

One of the Watson Tech second grade monster-creators poses with Skylar, a monster she created with her class.

The little green monster with the very sharp white teeth was created by students in Graciela Montoya's second grade class.

The sitting down monster was created by Watson Tech students from Julie Witty's class.

GREAT JOB STUDENTS!   CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING AND BEING PART OF OUR COMMUNITY!  Participation is what makes all communities and in fact our world, a great place to live.

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Three Monarchs Released in the Garden Yesterday!

About an hour before the event, three Monarch butterflies we had rescued eclosed.  Charlie, the Butterfly Whisperer, and his assistant released them in the Garland Community Garden. It was somewhat breezy so none of them lingered for long.  These were all tagged.  If you happen to see WGW301 WGW302, or WGW303, be sure and let us know as these Monarchs are part of the 2016 Monarch Watch Tagging project.

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The white cluster near the center of this photo is not white rice.  It is the cocoons of parasitic wasps. -Garland Community Garden 10/29/2016

We Saw Real Monsters in the Garden Yesterday.

When it comes to monster creating, Mother Nature is Queen--although those with more generous hearts would claim there are no monsters in nature.  I beg to differ.  Yesterday we found an example of them on the head of a tomato cut worm down at the garden.

Few parasitoids are more disturbing than the wasps of the genus Glyptapanteles, Females of this species inject their eggs into living caterpillars. There, the larvae mature, feeding on the caterpillar’s fluids before gnawing through its skin en masse and emerging into the light of day. Despite the trauma, not only does the caterpillar survive—initially at least—but the larvae mind-control it, turning their host into a bodyguard that protects them as they spin their cocoons and finish maturing. The caterpillar eventually starves to death after the tiny wasps emerge from their cocoons and fly away.