Happy Thanksgiving to all, whether you live in the US or not. We give thanks for you, our butterfly friends, as well as the many other blessings from God.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with your friends. Every 100th new subscriber (and the person who recommended Butterflies!) will receive a gift from Shady Oak. The 1,000th subscriber wrote, "I received my thank you gift for being the 1000th person to sign up for the newsletter. It was way more than I expected. THANK YOU."

Surrounded by thousands of maypop passionvine, Gulf Fritillary larvae surround us. A walk through a (frost-bitten) passionvine patch last week brought the discovery of more unusual colored Gulf Fritillary caterpillars.

Normally almost all orange, these were more gray than orange. We suspect that they will emerge as normal adults, unlike the 'albino' Gulf Fritillaries from earlier in the year. (See bottom photos of page linked below.)

Milkweed sap is toxic. Most of us who raise butterflies are fully aware of this fact. We're also aware of the dangers of getting milkweed sap into our eyes.

We've been studying some about the toxicity of milkweed and was interested in reading about how many small larvae get literally 'stuck' in the sap and die.

Larger caterpillars quite often actually cut the veins in the leaves before eating them. Next time you see a large caterpillar on a leaf that has 'fallen over' while the plant is upright, look at the underside of the leaf. You'll see where the caterpillar notched it.

Oleander moth caterpillars do the same with oleander; cut the leaf vein. Milkweed aphids are found on both plants.

What do you use to support your vines? We've seen some cute, some beautiful, some original ... just about a bit of everything. We will be creating a webpage with vine support ideas. If you have a special item you use for support, from a tree to a bicycle or ladder, please send us a photograph and your description (and the name of the vine) if you would allow us to use the photo and idea on the new webpage.

It is time to plan for spring gardens; we'd like to have this page filled with more ideas from YOU next month! Please continue to email more photographs in the coming years. The more we all share, the more we all learn and enjoy our gardens.

Have you seen the new photos that were submitted for 'Odd Places to Pupate'? Check them out and send in your photos - we'll place them on this page and will call for a vote in the January newsletter. (Vote for caption contest will be in December.) Send your photo to edith@buyabutterfly.com. The winner will receive a $20 gift certificate from Shady Oak.

The winner of the caption contest will receive a $20 gift card from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm.

The new photograph for the caption contest is of a green frog that was hanging out in the butterfly patch. If a frog could 'think', I wondered, what is it thinking?

Our first December newsletter will call for a vote on the captions submitted. Please send in your submission by November 30.

Until next time, Edith, Stephen, Ester, Michelle, Christina, Rachel, and the gang