They're Lycoris radiata. Basically, I want to move three patches that are about four feet outside of the bed so that they fill in a missing patch in the bed. The only problem is that it's clay soil and they've been there so long I'm afraid of creating a bucket effect. I really can't decide if I should dig them all up and make a slightly raised bed there to match the other beds in my yard or just dig the outsiders up in big clay chunks and insert them in the missing spot. Or, if I should dig up the extras, separate them, and just make an amended bed that's not raised so it matches the rest and hope it doesn't create a bucket there. I've got to move them, but I really hope you guys can tell me what's the best idea. :) :) :) If that doesn't make sense, I can post pictures.

Most of the remaining leaves are in the 2.5 to 3.5 cm range. Because the largest leaves in the original photo were devoured, I'm guessing the longest was around 4.0 cm. In Texas parlance, that's "smaller than a live oak's, but bigger than a yaupon's". For reference, the fence boards are about 3 3/8 inches wide. Don't recall seeing lonicera nitida around here, though our hardiness zone is okay. Must be other reasons there's little or no mention on area university or nursery web sites. Appears more common in the US Pacific Northwest. EDIT: Added link to a fact sheet which gives leaf length for Chinese privet in the range of 2 to 5 cm. Here is a link that might be useful: Ligustrum sinense fact sheet This post was edited by bostedo on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 21:59

I am in the Houston area and I still have lots of nectar flowers and shrubs for the butterflies. The spring and summer were so disappointing, but the fall sure has made up for the lack of butterflies. I had bushy milkweed plants, about 38 of them, until about a week ago: the cats have just exploded in numbers! My plants are just stripped of all the leaves!! Yah! Finally! I have released about 35 monarchs in the last month or so, which isn't really a large number, but considering how bad this year was early on, it is amazing. My mexican sunflowers went nuts this year and reseeded themselves. I had about 500 plants come up in one of the front beds and still have new seedlings coming up and blooming while very small in size. I really think that they did this so there would be plentiful nectar for the monarchs as they travel to Mexico. I have had so much butterfly traffic that it has certainly made up for the slow start this year. Mechelle

The half circles appear to be the damage of a leaf cutter bee. Are there any wild or cultivated grapes in the neighborhood? The first insect looks just like the adult moth of the grape leaf skeletonizer caterpillar, to me. Adults can be found visiting the flowers of a wide range of plants, but will lay their eggs on Vitus species.