Good grief!
These Polydamas swallowtails are just taking over my yard. lol
I had to go and buy a 3rd pipevine last Friday. I also took 8 of the fat caterpillars to the folks at Sun Harbor Nursery. My first two pipevines were cut all the way down to the woody part near the ground - no leaves left at all. Finally, my last 15 cats pupated last weekend. Then, on Tuesday I found 9 more eggs, which have since hatched and are in a small cage. Yesterday I found 26 eggs. I brought them in and put them in the cage with the pupas. Today.... I got home from work, got my coffee and went out to the garden. Looking at my new pipevine, and the two old ones which are just now getting about a dozen leaves on them, I found 103 more eggs!!!
Can you believe it?? This is totally wild. I might swing by Sun Harbor tomorrow and pick up a "backup" pipevine. I'm almost tempted to put some kind of cover on a couple of the plants so I don't get any more eggs for awhile. At $20-25 a plant, this is getting expensive.
Anybody close to Melbourne want some eggs?
Terrie
Polydamas.... again...
Yup, those are Polydamas for you. They do the same thing at MOSI where I volunteer and at my house! I keep a couple pipevines in pots on the patio so I have a few spare ones. I have to do the same thing with milkweed or I wouldn't have any of that either!
Melanie
Good idea. I think I'll do that, too. I'll go buy another pipevine and keep it on the porch.
I also have to go buy more parsley and fennel today. I found 30 more BST cats, and the plants from the last round of cats haven't recovered enough to feed these.
Gotta love these butterflies. They are costing me more money than when I had two teenage boys living at home.
8*D
I know what you mean about too many cats. I sometimes put cages (I'm talking butterfly-proof...window screening over them) over my spicebush plants when the cats get too numerous. In my case, I only have room for 3 spicebush plants in the yard and hate to see starving cats when the foliage is disappearing. Since the spicebush plants have to be watered regularly, I can't put one out on the property in my area...rainfall alone probably wouldn't keep it alive here. They have to be in the yard close enough to be watered on a regular basis.