Are these guys eating your parsley like they are eating ours? It’s okay, they grow up to be black swallowtails. Just be sure to plant enough so you’ll have some too, because they eat a lot. They also like dill and fennel.
You can learn how to grow your own butterflies with this book by Judy Hominick.
We planted some mexican milkweed this weekend to attract some Monarch butterfly larvae too.
Comments (7)
yes, we have alot of mexican milkweed out here, including some right outside our door. last month, when the blossom clusters were about to open, they got all sticky with sap, and one day (all day)they were visited by what i thought might be africanized bees. i’ve seen these fellows only twice before - once earlier in the spring and once a year or so ago. they’re big and shiny and black. the first group i saw was flying in a formation about head height very slowly and deliberately, like they were on patrol. i read on a website that africanized bees are no bigger (a little smaller)than honeybees (but darker) so i guess i was mistaken about them being africanized. but i’m sure they were not bumblebees or carpenter bees.
your garden looks lovely.
I remember those guys. My father hated them and he’d make me dust his precious tomato plants. I hated how it made them shrivel and fall to the ground. It became my practice not to mention when I saw them, for two reasons: I hated tomatoes and these were pretty.
I used hate three times in one paragraph. Gosh, that’s a lot for me! Deep emotions when it comes to tomato plants and caterpillars, I guess.
the black swallowtail caterpillars we had devoured the dill but didn’t touch the adjacent parsley. very interesting. the caterpillars have since wandered off, presumably to become butterflies. did you know that if you gently poke the caterpillars they will display a pair of bright orange horns? pretty cool (and scary to unsuspecting predators).
our caterpillars are gone now, too, and so are all the leaves on the parsley. I hope the caterpillars wandered off and didn’t get eaten by birds.
Make it your guiding principle to do your best for others and to be trustworthy in what you say. Do not accept as friend anyone who is not as good as you. When you make a mistake do not be afraid of mending your ways.
That book would make a good present for a child