A preying mantis guarding my vege's

[applestar]

A gorgeous preying mantis has been making my vege garden her home ... specifically the corn.
She looked like this two weeks ago:

and now she looks like this -- perfectly camouflaged:

(I hope the hummingbirds are being careful when they visit the scarlet runner bean flowers.)
I'm going to have to watch out for her egg case this fall so I don't accidentally damage/dispose it.

[JennyC]

Yay! I found one while looking for a tomato hornworm the other day. The worm never showed; I think the mantis got it! Will the egg case overwinter okay?

I also have two big orb weavers guarding my Romas -- the mantis is the Rutgers guardian. One of those weavers has gone from the size of a nickel to the size of a siver dollar this summer!

[Toms92gp]

I've had one living in my grapevine on my back porch for the last several months. I love having them around.