Yellow Mandevilla Host Plant of Oleander Caterpillar

If you build it, they will come! If you plant it, they will come. I'm talking about my experience with the beautiful yellow mandevilla vining plant and the oleander caterpillar. Years ago, in my Jacksonville, Florida backyard garden, I planted several oleanders. As they began to mature into beautiful leafy little tree-like plants, I witnessed an invasion of the oleander caterpillar. At that time, I didn't realize how beautiful the adult stage of this caterpillar would be and decided to totally remove all the oleander.

Julie's Garden Nature Walk - Oleander Caterpillar on Yellow Mandevilla

In 2017, I spotted a yellow flowering vine-plant at Home Depot and decided to buy it for my front yard garden in my Leesburg, Florida senior park home. The first several months of the yellow mandevilla, everything seemed pretty normal with it growing and maturing with pretty yellow trumpet-like flowers.

Flowering Yellow Mandevilla in Leesburg Florida

As the Yellow Mandevilla continued to grow, I installed a tall metal trellis to support the vines. It is a plant of the genus Allamanda in the dogbane family of Apocynaceae.

Flowering Yellow Mandevilla and Other Plants in Leesburg Florida Garden

It was probably in early 2018 that I began to see the oleander caterpillars appearing on my Yellow Mandevilla. At first, there were only a couple, but it seemed that they began to multiply soon afterwards. Like, the word was out!

Polka Dot Wasp Moth on Confederate Star Jasmine

It was November 29, 2016, that I photographed my first Polka Dot Wasp Moth. It was found buzzing my Confederate Star Jasmine, another vine-like plant on a trellis in my front yard garden in Leesburg, Florida.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth Flying

It would be not quite two years later that I would realize that this beautiful, unique moth started off as the Oleander Caterpillar! For that reason, I allowed probably hundreds of Oleander Caterpillars to obliterate my pretty Yellow Mandevilla as they progressed to adulthood as the Polka Dot Wasp Moth!

Oleander Caterpillar Eating my Yellow Mandevilla

For more than two years, I watched my Yellow Mandevilla become the host plant to hundreds of Oleander Caterpillars.

Oleander Caterpillar Poop From Eating My Yellow Mandevilla

In November 2019, I watched a thriving, healthy Yellow Mandevilla taken literally to the ground by the Oleander Caterpillar. That was when I decided I wouldn't let the plant come back for another season.

My Front Yard Garden in Leesburg Florida - Yellow Mandevilla on Right

I've written another blog post about the Polka Dot Wasp Moth. It is truly a marvel of Mother Nature and definitely my favorite such moth. To experience such a beautiful creature, it is worthy of the experience with growing a Yellow Mandevilla host plant! I'm so happy I had this experience and would recommend it to you.

A great resource for wonderful photos and interesting information on the Oleander Caterpillar is hosted by the University of Florida.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth

What a most magnificent moth is the Polka Dot Wasp Moth. Today was the very first time I actually photographed one of these wasp moths in my front yard garden. I am very sure I had caught glimpses of this wasp moth in the past month or so, but didn't realize how spectacularly colorful it is.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth - Syntomeida epilais
Photographed November 29, 2016, Leesburg, FL

It was just a bit past Noon on a most delightful weather day in Leesburg, Florida. The temperature was near 80 degrees although it might have felt a degree or two cooler with the winds of about 8 mph. There were lots of wispy clouds overhead that seemed to be moving towards me ... so the wind was out of the South.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth - Syntomeida epilais
Photographed November 29, 2016, Leesburg, FL

I was just finishing up the washing of my white lattice work along the side of the carport. I noticed this wasp moth flying to and fro and thought I'd try to snap a photo or two. It was flying almost continuously, like it was aware a bird might be watching! I snapped a few photos as it lit on my Confederate Star Jasmine plant.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth - Syntomeida epilais
Photographed November 29, 2016, Leesburg, FL

The Polka Dot Wasp Moth is referred to as the Oleander Caterpillar in larva form. It was many years ago that I grew several Oleander plants in my small townhouse backyard in Jacksonville, Florida. I remember finding hundreds of these caterpillar lined up on the underside of the Oleander leaves. It was actually kind of creepy to see so many caterpillar. Alas, I did not wait for the caterpillar to become a wasp moth -- heck, I had no idea that the Oleander Caterpillar would turn into such a beautiful moth.

Action Shot of the Polka Dot Wasp Moth!

Action Shot of the Polka Dot Wasp Moth - Syntomeida epilais
Photographed November 29, 2016, Leesburg, FL

The white polka dots on the wings of the wasp moth helped to create as most interesting action shot in the above photo. The wasp moth landed on my yellow car a couple of times and then flew back to the Confederate Star Jasmine plant.

The North American subspecies of the Polka Dot Wasp Moth is S. epilais jucundissima, which is locally common in all areas of Florida.The University of Florida has a neat reference guide for the Oleander Caterpillar with some excellent photos of the various stages of life.

Polka Dot Wasp Moth Caterpillars on Yellow Mandevilla June 12, 2018

June 2018, I was quite involved with an incredible number of Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars when I found my yellow Mandevilla plant invaded by the Polka Dot Wasp Moth Caterpillar. Some of the Monarch caterpillars were vying for space on that plant! I opted to rehome the PDWM caterpillars at this time because of all the Monarch activity!