Oh my goodness, NOW I understand the excitement of seeing a baby, because these are my very first! There are 4 of them, too. I just found them this morning, and brought all of my curley parsely in and have put it in a bin -- now to get netting for the top.
Um, should I be concerned because they haven't moved since I first saw them? Could they be sleeping, maybe?
Anyway, here's a picture of one of the black swallowtail babies.... pretty photogenic, huh? :)
... and the saga continues....
I did blow on the little guys and they moved, so that's a good thing. But, then I started worrying about whether or not I'd have enough curled parsley for these guys. I only have 3 4" pots of parsley. So, I started calling around, and, of course, no one has any at this time of year -- except for one place.
I explained why I needed the parsley, and he told me to go immediately to his nursery, that he'd wait there for me. He had one 4" pot of curled parsley left, and entire flat of Italian Parsley. He gave it to me for free, because he raises butterflies and was excited that I'm trying to do the same. He picked up one of the 4" pots of Italian Parsley, and what's on it? An Eastern Swallowtail Cat!!! So, of course, he had to squeeze it to show me the "horns" that come up when it's threatened. :)
I am just so excited now, and can't wait until my daughter gets out of school so I can show her the big surprises for today!! :)
How cool is that you found a fellow who understood your problem and gave you some free stuff. So I guess they do like the flat leafed parsley? I always thought it was just the curly. That is exciting and your daughter is going to love it. They are such cute little guys. They have always been a favorite of mine because like clockwork every year if I plant dill I get these little guys. Congrats and enjoy. And the big bonus, they make such beautiful butterflies.
Leslie
I guess they do like flat parsley. I tried to tell him that it seems they prefer the curved parsley, but I guess I was wrong. LOL!! I've inspected all the plants he gave me and have found 4 eggs so far. :) Of course, now I can't see from looking so closely at the plants!
What fun it must be. I've only found Monarch eggs over the years. I better re-think what I'm planting and add some parsley for sure next year.
oh you should Brugie. These babies are fun to watch and just precious. They grow soooo fast and eat sooo much. But I think they are beautiful. Not gorgeous like some but really interesting to look at. Although if you have Monarchs they do not look much different from Monarch cats to me. They just don't have the black antennae on each end. They have the "smelly horns" which is so cute when they throw those out at ya when you get too close. If you plant a couple of dill plants I promise you they will be there. I have planted dill for four years in a row, not that I use dill, I plant it just for the purpose of these cats and sure enough they show up. Next year I am planting more than one plant because I want to try to raise these babies.
Leslie
Shirley, it's definitely an experience, and I bet one you'd enjoy. :) It's amazing how I set out to do a lot of things today, only to be sidetracked by these cats. Oh well, I'll just take care of things tomorrow. LOL!!
It's funny, I had bronze fennel right next to the parsley, but it wasn't touched. I tried to grow dill, but the bunnies seemed to have adored that, so I gave up on that.
I hope these aren't too hard to raise, because this is my very first time with cats, and I'd hate to see anything go wrong!!
We have butterflies, so we must have cats at some time. I raise dill all the time and never see anything on it. I raised bronze fennel two years running and it was never touched either. Maybe I don't have the right kind of butterflies? LOL! I'm going to try again. This year I left a wild milk weed in the flower bed. I did remove the seed pods tho. What a mess that could have been.
Felicia, I don't think they are too hard to raise. The only thing I have read is from Thea who had so many and none were eclosing. Someone wrote and told her that with the BST's you never know when they will eclose. You cannot expect them to follow any kind of timeline on that. So don't give up if it takes a long time for them to eclose. I think she hs had some for months that have not come out yet. Crazy, huh?
Have fun and watch those babies get fat, fat, fat. LOL.
Leslie
From what I've been reading, these may not eclose until spring. If they form their chrysilis late summer - early fall, then that's sometimes the case. :( Bummer! But, then, if we have to wait till spring, what better way to add cheer to the garden!
Good point. I have read that some of the later chrysalids have to winter over. That would be something, wouldn't it? To have that in the house all winter and then come spring, pop! out they come. Kind of freaky really. I don't know how late it has to be for them to do that. I guess if they don't come out, you will know they are overwintering so to speak. When does it start cooling down up there?
Leslie
It would be hard having to wait till Spring, that's for sure!! Not patient here! LOL!!
We usually get our first frost around the middle of October, so it's kinda cutting it close, huh? I am definitely NOT anxiously awaiting fall this year ... maybe cold weather in November. Yeah, that would work!!
Actually that is about the time it starts getting good and cold here. We usually don't get any cool spells until late October. And it usually does not freeze or we don't get any precip until January so heck, some things may live all winter. You never know around here. We have been in a 10 year drought and this year have gotten 2 x as much rain as is normal around here and the temps have not even gotten in the 100's yet. Very abnormal for this area. Especially August. Kinda funny, every year around the second week of September we get the West Texas Fair And Rodeo. Now around here that is a big event. It lasts for a week and everyone goes out there. I usually go just to eat, you know that carny food, yummy. Anyways, it has always been a constant around here that it rains during fair week. And people always get a little put out because it rains on their fair fun. The last several years I think it only sprinkled during fair week. I don't think it affected the fair at all. Which actually was disappointing for us gardeners because we love the rain ya know. Anyway, long story short, it will be interesting to see if it rains during fair week this year as we have had so much already. It is interesting why it would rain at a certain time every year, until recently, though. Don't know the scientific reasoning for that.
Okay, shutting up now.
Leslie
