....they DO come! Spicebush and Sassafras are both nearly non-existent in this part of the country(Northern Illinois), but I have grown a bunch of Spicebush from seed and planted them out, as well as put three Sassafras out in my woods as well. Today, I found Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars on all three Sassafras and several of the Spicebush. How DO they know I am here???
Now, if the Zebra Swallowtails find my PawPaws, I will be impressed!
If you build it.....
Kevin,
I'm impressed too. Where did you get the spicebush seed.I'm looking some.Sassafras too.
Don
I got lucky and found a Sassafras seedling right up against the house. I moved it under some other trees away from the house. I got spicebush seedlings off e-Bay for a 1 or 2 dollar apiece but think he is out now when I looked for KK. I sure hope you get that Zebra. I had one twice this year for the first time ever. It was really beautiful
I've read that the Spicebush Swallowtail host plants have largely disappeared from many parts of the country, destroyed because of rampant development and other factors. We need more people planting the fairly hard-to-find host plants. The butterflies must be good at finding their host plants, however. They found my Spicebush, which are now recovering inside a screened-in cage after nearly being defoliated by the caterpillars. BTW, I was lucky. I found Spicebush at a native nursery within 50 miles of our place.
Linda how do you grow yours. It kept dying at the old house but figured it was because my yard was damp. I have read full sun or part sun, dry or damp ground. Mine is still in pots because i wasn't sure where to try and plant it. They are looking pitiful. Hope it is enough for my 3 cats
I'm no expert and haven't had them that long myself. But I thought they liked moist places. My book says they prefer sandy or moist soil in woods, swamps and along streams. And they're often understory plants. It's pretty hot and dry here, so I water them often. And the only problem so far is that the caterpillars ate just about all the leaves before the last ones pupated. Now I'm giving them a little extra fertilizer to get the foliage to grow back well. Looks like it's working!
good luck. I will try planting these under some other trees then like I did the sassafras
I got my seed from a plant I bought. I purchased it specifically because it was loaded with fruit, and germination is easy. I had hundreds germinate, gave away a lot of seedlings, and planted out a bunch.
Donna--understory, acid, moist are ideal conditions.
thanks Kevin