Tuesday, October 2, 2007

My Own Black Swallowtail Caterpillars!

Last Spring I planted parsley in my "sunny" flower garden in hopes that I'd be able to entice Black Swallowtails to visit. I've noticed others lately who have spotted the caterpillars. Frankly, I don't mind telling you... I was a bit envious. However, this morning (as I began the process of gathering and disposing of fallen leaves before they get too deep) I checked my plants.

Something suspicious here?
Do, do you see what I see?
Ohmygoodness! On my very own parsley plants...
a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar.
(click the name for information)
Beautiful!
Actually, I found three large caterpillars,
and there were several that looked as though they hadn't hatched long ago.
According to the article, newly hatched larvae have a white band...
it's discernible below, I think.
(Compare this little fellow to the parsley leaf.)
I understand they overwinter within their chrysalis.
I assume I'll have to somehow protect this plant.

:-)

at

4 comments:

  1. Andrea DellitOctober 3, 2007 at 12:53 AM

    he's a beauty! and how small!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shady GardenerOctober 3, 2007 at 9:20 PM

    I know. When I first compared it to the large caterpillars, I wasn't sure it was a Black Swallowtail larvae... but it is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Iowa Gardening WomanOctober 6, 2007 at 7:47 PM

    They look just like my caterpillars :), isn't it exciting?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shady GardenerOctober 7, 2007 at 4:53 PM

    It is exciting,especially after having tried this last year but to no avail. I hope we both get to see them hatch next spring!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting today. I don't mean to make it hard for you to leave a message, but temporarily I am going to enable word verification. Too many spam messages to deal with lately. Thanks for your patience! SG