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Hey there fella… what’s your name? You have big hind legs… shall I call you “Jumper?” “No,” the critter replies… “Those days are over for me. Oh to be a nymph again!” Well how about “Chomper?” You appetite for greenery is doing a number on my lily plants. “Sorry ‘bout that… a grasshoppers’ gotta do what a grasshoppers’ gotta do to survive.” Okay… well move along and we’ll see you next year.  Lubber nymphs are usually very lethargic and easily handpicked. Their black coloration makes them look like a different species than the adult stage. These beautiful colorful creatures usually show up in my garden in the Spring. Their population is small so I tolerate them; for the sake of a few chewed leaves, we can easily coexist. Lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) are native to Florida and the Southeastern U.S. including North and South Carolina, Georgia, and west through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, to central Texas. Adult Lubber grasshoppers are primarily yellow with orange and red markings. The juvenile nymph (immature) grasshoppers look totally different than the adults, and are almost completely black with a red stripe. Adults attain a large size, males measuring 1-1/2” - 2” inches length and females often measuring 2” - 3-1/2” inches.  These grasshoppers were exterminated while doing their thing in a natural park area. Why? Lubber is derived from an old English word which means lazy or clumsy. Juveniles are more nimble and will jump away if approached. The adult grasshopper is a very poor jumper, and is usually seen walking, or climbing to feed on foliage at the tips of branches. They have wings, but cannot fly. Since the adults basically sit on the leaf, even when approached, it is easy to lift them off the plant by pinching their two hind legs between your thumb and index finger. You can then relocate the critter to a place where it can do no further damage to your plants. Unfortunately for the Lubber grasshopper, most people’s first reaction when they see one is of terror. Jurassic monster!!! Dinosaur war!!! Exterminate it!!!  Portrait of an adult Lubber Grasshopper. Photo by Linda Adams  Closeup view of the Adult Lubber Grasshopper head I can understand that grasshoppers are disliked by farmers because huge swarms can wipe out a farmer’s crop. Farmers care more about feeding people than insects, so In this case it may be appropriate for the farmer to use chemicals to prevent crop loss and economic hardship. Grasshoppers have few natural enemies. Their bright colorful pattern is believed to be a warning to predators that they are not palatable. In the home landscape grasshoppers can be seen early in the morning and in late afternoon feeding in flower beds, defoliating amaryllis, crinum and other lilies, oleander, butterfly weed, canna, Mexican petunia and lantana. Their veggie garden preference includes lettuce, kale, peas, beans and cabbage. So I get it! So how can we be humane while dealing with these critters in trying to salvage your home garden? You can hand pick and relocate. Another more final solution is handpicking and placing in a bag to be then placed in the freezer.  Caught in the act of chomping on lily foliage In general, these critters do not kill plants. What they chew on will return. For example, at a local nature park I frequent, I was shocked to see dozens of dead adult Lubber grasshoppers lying in the flower beds. This is a native, natural garden. It is non-manicured. So what harm is there to co-existing with a few grasshoppers? They are amazingly beautiful.
How could anyone kill such a beautiful species? Pay attention young grasshopper. Act with knowledge and compassion. Though man is the king of the jungle and can do what he pleases, carefully consider the fate of the grasshopper in the home and natural landscape. There is a reason for the grasshoppers’ existence, otherwise would it have been created?
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“No shoes, no shirt, no problems” to quote a Kenny Chesney song rather sums up how summer feels in the Keys. Besides that, wearing no shoes connects us with the earth. My friend says barefoot walking in the grass allows the wifi waves we absorb from our electronic devices to leave our body. Hmmm… I’ll go with that.  Honeybee on dill flower. Herbs and other edibles are a great addition to a pollinator garden. While musing on the benefits of barefoot walking… Yoweee… a sharp stabbing pain emanates from my big toe. I must have just gotten stung by a bee! Not to worry, I’m not allergic to bees, just a bit of pain now, some swelling later on. There is an old saying that beekeepers never have arthritis since bee venom has anti-inflammatory properties. Guess it is my lucky day… you can create a positive spin on anything. Ironically I got stung while walking in the future site of a butterfly and pollinator garden… a suddenly sunny patch in my front yard created by the removal of a dead tree. It’s a perfect space for a pollinator/butterfly garden, whose plants require 6+ hours of sun per day. The more sun, the more active the garden will be.  The Spanish moth is attracted to members of the spider lily family, chewing on leaves, bulbs and rhizomes. Though butterflies are the poster children of pollinator gardening, birds, bats, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, small mammals and bees can all be pollinators. They visit flowers to drink nectar or feed from the pollen, then move pollen between male and female plants, fertilizing the flower’s eggs, which then produce seeds to create a new generation. Pick a site where there is well drained soil, and access to water to establish and maintain the plants, and for the pollinators to drink… a saucer filled with stones and water will do. Choose plants that attract pollinators, selecting plants with different colors and shapes, that will bloom during different months, to provide for a year round habitat.  When we think of bees, we think of the European honey bee that nests in beehive colonies. At the other end of the spectrum, native bees are solitary nesters, that build their nests inside available nesting holes. Mason bees love tubular homes. Leafcutter bees snip bits of leaves to line their nests. Carpenter bees carve their nests out of wood. Paper wasps build umbrella shaped nests that hang underneath limbs or on your home’s facia. Like all living things, pollinators need a place to rest and some might appreciate a little house. Building a pollinator house is a creative project utilizing recycled materials such as scraps of wood and dead bamboo stalks. They are called pollinator houses because pollinators visit them, but they are actually pollinator nurseries, because solitary bees use the holes for a place to deposit their eggs. The bee selects a perfect sized hole, typically around 3/8,” then collects pollen and nectar to place in the tube, on which she lays one egg on top of the mixture. The eggs hatch and the larva eat the pollen mixture. When the time is right the larva pupate, and remain in that state until the following spring, when they emerge to start the process over again. So worth it! Plant the plants, attract the pollinators, provide food and housing for them, and the cycle continues. My initial choice of plants may not be perfect, but with observation, adjustments and time, the garden will become a thing of beauty.  Pollinator house with blocks of wood attached and a few bamboo stalks. The house is taking shape! Here’s how I am planning the garden: since sun is a very important factor, I want to make sure that no plant gets too large to shade out any area. A good rule of thumb is to select one tree, two shrubs, one vine, and three wildflowers or grasses for a small garden. If more room is available, increase the number of plants at the same ratio. Plant in groupings for the most impact, and to reduce the appearance of leaf damage when the caterpillars are munching. Think about what will bring you the most joy… and plant with that in mind. Hummingbirds are attracted to the tubular flowers of the following plants: Red firespike, Pineapple sage, Purple passionflower vine, Aloe vera, Firebush, Necklacepod, Coral honeysuckle vine, Bahama strongbark (tree) and Little strongbark (small tree or shrub). Bees like Sunshine mimosa, Portulaca, African blue basil, Purple passionflower, Necklacepod, Fiddlewood, Greenheart, Soldierwood, and Star jasmine vine. Butterflies like Pentas (pink, red or white are most appealing), Sunshine mimosa, Butterfly weed (Asclepius tuberose is native), Giant milkwood, Corky stemmed passionflower, Bahama cassia, Beautyberry, Blue porterweed, Jatropha, Plumbago, Scorpiontail, Wild sage, Zinnia, Sunflowers, Red firespike, Balloon vine, and Purple passionflower to name a few. The Key West morning glory (Skyblue clustervine) attracts the sphinx moth. For birds you want plants that produce fruit such as Shiny leaf wild coffee, Satinleaf, Soldierwood, Bahama Strongbark, Little Strongbark, and Beautyberry.  Close up view of the pollinator house before hanging. Thanks Denise! for the cute plastic bee decoration. The above plant suggestions are natives/or friendly additions for the Florida Keys, which is Zone 11. They are low maintenance once established, have fewer pests and diseases and the native pollinators will flock to your yard. Don’t be a member of the more-dollars-than-sense crowd who would rather throw money at a problem than understand the root cause. Board-spectrum insecticides should never be used. They kill a large group of insects, including good pollinators as well  Finished pollinator box hanging on a tree at driveway entrance, welcoming friends and critters to our wildlife habitat. Alligator Alcatraz has been in the news since June 2025, when an immigration detention facility intended for the worst of the worst was slated to be built on an improved site inside Big Cypress National Preserve. Big Cypress has been occupied by the Micosukee Indian tribe since the 1840’s, because an impenetrable wilderness kept them from being captured in the Indian Wars in Florida. The site formerly known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport was constructed in the early 1970’s for commercial and military use, and as a place to land the space shuttle. Environmental concerns in the late 1970’s /early 1980’s halted further development.  Carol photographing at Fisheating Creek, documenting the moment in 1999 when the land was returned to the people of the State of Florida. Alligator Alcatraz is a catchy name designed to garner attention to the problem of the bad hombres already here, process them for deportation and to act as a deterrent for future illegals. As a native Floridian, I consider the entire media campaign ridiculous. The folks who created the narrative of man-eating pythons and alligators in Florida do not realize that there are cities and towns here, full of regular folks who treasure the Everglades. Generations of Floridians grew up taking airboat rides down the ditch, swamp buggy treks through the cypress forest and slogging on foot through the river of grass.  Florida Man. Generations of Floridians grew up swimming, fishing and even baptizing their young in these headwaters of the Everglades The original settlers lived off the land. On fertile farmland they planted orange trees and pineapples. On grassy ridges they raised cattle and they fished in the lakes, rivers and ocean. They ate swamp cabbage, a delicacy known as hearts of palm, made from the core of young saw palmetto, Florida’s state tree. Frogs legs are Everglades fare… tastes like chicken. They made gopher stew. For the Florida neophyte, that’s not stew made by a “go-fer,” a low wage undocumented worker.  The swamp guide had more alligator teeth around his neck than actual teeth in his mouth.  Alligator Alcatraz is a media concoction reported by those who live in canyons made of concrete, lined by tall buildings that scrape the sky. Their roads are like tunnels in the form of a rat maze. The only wildlife they know are street rats and park pigeons. Though these reporters may have visited Florida, they probably only made it to the Alligator Farm to watch gators in pens jump out of muddy water to snatch a dead chicken on a stick. They leave Florida with a live alligator souvenir, who after a small starring role in the third-grader’s report about what I did this summer, ends up being flushed down the toilet to appear later in a sewer near you.  My friend Bill Hutto and the local guide contemplating the first cold one of the day. The new detention facility is close-by the gallery of nature photographer Clyde Butcher, whose black and white photographs bring the wild lands of the Everglades to life. He spent his life photographing with a large format film camera, wading waist deep in the alligator’s swamp in order to give the viewer an intimate perspective of a pristine environment worthy of preservation. As far as I can tell despite photographing in alligator infested waters, Butcher still has all his limbs intact.  An ancient oak tree serves as waypoint along the creek. Florida is made up of lots of swamp. In predevelopment time Florida was 50% wetland - approx. 20.3 million acres. Now there are only about one-half of the original wetlands remaining. Wildlife need wild lands was the callout for land acquisition, and the State of Florida legislature enacted Preservation 2000 and Forever Florida to help do just that.  A baby gator hidden in the swampy waters. In 1999 I took multiple trips to the headwaters of the Everglades to document the State of Florida’s $43 million purchase of Fisheating Creek, the State’s most pristine wilderness site and unspoiled lands near Lake Okeechobee. Historically the early settlers relied on Florida’s web of creeks and waterways as their primary mode of passage through impenetrable swamp. The purchase of this 52 mile western tributary of Lake Okeechobee returned the land from private ownership back to the people of the State of Florida.  An alligator resting on a large limb is unfazed by our presence. I traveled Fisheating Creek aboard a jon boat with some well-armed locals and a guide who had more alligator teeth around his neck than actual teeth in his mouth. Sentinel oaks and limbs of ancient trees reaching out over the water were the guideposts along the way. As we traveled to remote areas, touched only by Mother Nature, the cameras’ wide angle lens took in the beautiful view, as with open arms, offered a wide embrace for a perfect ecosystem. Back on shore I sampled wild boar stew from the guides’ crusty crock-pot. He lived off the land and provided food for the local women, children and for those who could not provide for themselves.  Governor Jeb Bush recognized Carol for her efforts. The residents of Alligator Alcatraz probably possess more skills to deal with the wildlife in Florida than the media gives them credit for. Show me an Honduran man with a machete, and I will show you a survivor.
There is no place like the Everglades. I appreciate my Florida roots, and I never want to be planted in a concrete jungle. The beauty and the balance between the water and the air and the natural feel of what was… and is left of our environment in Florida is worth saving. Repatriate the inmates and when the job is done, restore this scarred land to nature. |
CAROL ELLIS
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