Well, today was off to a rocky start...running late, car on empty {ok, that was my fault...I did notice it was running low yesterday, then promptly forgot}, ice on the windshield, {again, my fault...forgot to put the car in the garage}, but none the less I managed to get to jazzercise in enough time to take my coveted spot in the back row, where I could comfortably work out my chubby little body, relatively unnoticed. So now, here I am, cozy & warm at my desk, looking forward to sharing with you today...I was thinking about how much fun it was the first time I spotted a caterpillar in my garden, was able to identify it & didn't squish it. It was a Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on my Dill.
I had just learned that you need more than nectar plants in your garden to attract butterflies. You need "Host Plants".
Host plants are the plants where the adult butterflies lay their tiny eggs and what the baby caterpillars eat. Each species of butterfly caterpillars will eat only a very specific group of plants {I used to think that caterpillars would eat any green leaves}.
And as luck would have it, I just happened to have Dill growing in my garden last summer. Which just happens to be, (along with Parsley & Fennel) one of the host plants for Black Swallowtail butterflies!
So, I dashed
up to the garden and started to look. At first I didn't see anything and then I noticed one of the plants was missing most of its leaves and there, on an almost bare stock, was a fat green, yellow & black caterpillar! A Black Swallowtail!Well, I immediately dug up the plant, caterpillar and all & put it in a pot, in a cage, on the back deck...it wasn't until later that I realized I could have just snipped off some of the leaves to feed the little guy and not the entire plant. Anyway, I had such great fun watching him grow, eventually turn into a chrysalis and then a butterfly. It was my first "wild" caterpillar!
So, if you would like to add just one host plant to your garden this year, you might want to consider Dill, Parsley or Fennel.
Just be sure to either grow it from seed, without using pesticides or buy an organically grown plant. I will grow mine from seed again this year, just to be on the safe side. But the good news is that the seeds aren't hard at all, to grow! Just pick a sunny spot, rake the soil lightly, sprinkle the seeds and keep moist! And don't forget to plant your nectar flowers close by, the Black Swallowtails will love you for it!
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