in Fennel
Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
Resting in the Fennel
Picture #1 is the clearest I think you have posted! That's a humdinger.
Isn't it beautiful...a great reason to grow fennel!
Got to get me some. And am planting parsley, my cousin had cats all over hers.
I planted parsley too but so far no cats...Paul made a butterfly hatchery this weekend. It still needs the screen put on and then it's done. It's really cool...I'll post a picture later or tomorrow.
How's the leg feeling?
Was better (i heard a big pop the other day when I was moving furniture) and it made it feel so much better. Now is starting to get worse again. Go for test in the morn.
As always, great shots!
I have quite a few cats in my fennel too, but was suprised to discover a whole slew in last years parsley. It's about three feet tall and has hardly any leafs. They are eating the flower heads.
hi Floridian,
I had some black swallowtail cats too. A few have made their chrysalli (sp?) on the remaining bronze fennel twigs. Anyone know how long till they emerge? I'm relieved to have them back. Last year on one bronze fennel plant I counted over 35 cats...then one afternoon the red wasps came and had a smorgasboard. Oh well that's life in the wild kingdom. Thanks for sharing your pics. Now I'm certain mine are eastern black swallowtails too.
Oh dear Connie, that sounds like a tendon popping. Hope everything went well yesterday.
Thanks PL, I'll be putting in dill this fall plus lots more parsley and fennel.
plants Rfun, someone will come along to tell us long long before the butterfly emerges. Interesting about the wasps. I was wondering if the big ants kill caterpillars. I had so many sulpher cats on a senna then one day they were almost all gone and the ants were everywhere. I saw one ant with a tiny cat and have been wondering about this since.
Floridian,
I bet it was the ants. I had a "half baked" eastern swallowtail chrysallis and the ants ate it up. It was one that had gotten knocked down from its attachment spot and I tried my very best to tape it back in place on a plant stem. However, I have 2 other chrysallis on my bronze fennel that are doing fine. They've turned papery brown from their original fleshy green. Maybe they'll emerge soon. :)
My parsley is now toast, thanks to about a dozen black swallowtail cats. They hadn't touched it for almost a year, then all of a sudden, they were all over it! I just bought a fennel plant at the farmer's market two weeks ago. It had a cat on it at the time and a few eggs, which appear to have been eaten (either by the cat or possibly by ants or lizards). Here are two of the cats that were the beginning of the end for my parsley:
