Has anyone else noticed that the Eastern Black Swallowtails were a little late this year but are now making up for it? It seemed later than normal before I found any cats this year. But since they started coming.... whew! I've brought in close to 200 over the past couple of months. I should keep better track of how many I've released, but it's been anywhere from 4-8 a day.
I have spent more money on parsley,dill and fennel than in past years. I'm keeping my local nursery in business. 8*D
Anyone else having this problem?
Terrie
A banner year for BSTs?
If you have extras, send them up here! Have seen just one this season!
I've seen one today, another one several days past. Please send those EBST this way too. :-)
Sounds like you may be getting some soon. Wow that is a bunch, great work Terrie!!
I'm experiencing the same thing! I volunteer at MOSI's butterfly garden and hadn't seen the first BST all spring. We had all this nice dill and fennel but it just went to seed. We still had parsley though, and a few weeks ago I went to check on it (like I did every week with disappointment) and all of a sudden there were cats on it! Once I started looking, there were a lot of cats!
Now, each weekend for the last month or so I've been bringing in more eggs and cats. Today I must have brought in about thirty. I only have one small parsely plant at my house so I don't expect any here. But I "adopted" some eggs I found on the dill while shopping at Home Depot. They're almost full grown now and I had to run out and buy more parsley! They're worth it and I can always use more plants! : )
Melanie
Good news, I've seen one EBST butterfly visited my garden several times this past week. I'm hoping I'll see cats. soon.
Wild, huh, Mel? I'm still bringing in 10-20 a day.
I wish I could send some of these up to you tabasco and lily. lol But I'm sure your butterflies are heading your way. Better get ready!
I'm trying to let some of my eaten down plants grow back by keeping them inside my screen porch and I keep getting BSTs trying to get in. They keep bouncing off the screen.
Terrie
That sounds like me swatting at Polydamas the other day. We try to reserve the a. triloba for the Pipevine STs since they can't eat the other kind (I think it's a. gigantea?) but the Polys lay eggs on everything! And then the Pipevine STs get confused and lay on the wrong pipevine (not that they can tell). I'm always on an egg hunt to make sure the right caterpillar gets the right pipevine. But the other day I had just finished clearing Poly eggs off the a. triloba when I saw three Polys flying around the trellis. So I started swatting with my hands to try and chase them off. A temporary fix, I'm sure.
Melanie
I'd take any type of butterfly, lol. It's encouraging though. I've begun to see more skippers around, so hopefully the butterflies will follow suite. Melanie, I've the triloba pipevine for the first time. It grows very slowly compared to the gigantea (which I've lost this year), I hope I'll get some polydamus.
Yeah, it does grow slower so it's best to have some in reserve. Do you get Polys that far north? I can't remember their boundaries. Of course, Pipevine STs are always welcome, too!
Melanie
Polys may not go as far up this way. I had never have them before, just hoping that I'd get some. I need to read up on them.