I planted parsley for these things but I found 3 in my dill today. I didn't kill them but I will have to kill any others. At first I relocated them to a differant plant but I decided to put them in my little bug house. I made a little movie of them munching my dill. I love digital photography!
Here is one fixin' to chomp down on a dill leaf. It was hard with the shallow depth of field. And the catipillar is so round and on so many planes you just have to pick the best focal point. I tried to go for the eyes.
These were by my compost heap a couple weeks ago. They were the size of tiny little ticks. It wasn't until I took a pic of them up close that I could see the color and detail.
the last one.
I always get so much volunteer dill, I don't mind sharing.
ICK! I'd kill em!
I'd plant lots more dill......those are very pretty cats and I'm pretty sure they will turn into a Swallowtail: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/13/ maybe the Eastern Black Swallowtail http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/10/
I'd give my eye teeth to see one of those beauties here.
The others I could live without. ;D
Yes, it will turn into one of the Swallowtail butterflies... a helpful gardening pollinator. I enjoyed a flock of them on my fennel and they didn't hurt it at all, only pruning it for me. It is growing bushier now...
Interesting information and links here if you are interested... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/981269/
Nice. I'm planting dill for them as well.
Great shots. I love macros.
remind me never to go to savannah ga.
your caterpillars are lovely...i would tear half the garden down getting away from it. lol
I plant dill, parsley, fennel just so I can have these wonderful caterpillars and then the butterflies. I never kill caterpillars, just like I would never kill a butterfly. Most caterpillars will die if you move them to another plant. They starve. So no butterflies. Most plants will spring back after the caterpillars have turned into a chysalis. It is natural pruning and the plants expect it.
Butterflies are having enough problems with more house going in destroying their habitat. Then there's pesticides and hericides. No wonder they are going extinct.
Maybe you can find a local butterfly garden that would take your caterpillars so those swallowtails have a chance.
I also plant lots of herbs and milkweed for the caterpillars. I have rigged up cages to raise them in so they are protected from birds, wasps, and other predators. My grandkids love helping with it and get so excited when they are able to let a butterfly, after it's done drying its wings, walk onto their fingers and take it outside to release it.
I admit to being a total idiot when it comes to caterpillars of almost any kind. I figure they have just as much right as I do to the plants, maybe more. I even leave a patch of American Nighshade so I can move the Hornworms to it....
Yeah, I know, I know.
Margo
Hey catmad,
That's the beauty of having your own yard--you can do whatever you darn well please with it :-} I have a whole garden dedicated to the hummers and butterflies and I keep expanding my herb patch for them too. I also plant lots of things specifically for the bees. The deer have a travel zone through our yard so we plant a big food plot for them every year down by the creek. Even the squirrels are welcome at the bird feeders and I know there are lots of folks who will think I'm nuts for that (no pun intended). We really enjoy our critters.
I have them in a terrarium thingie. I raised one a few years ago and had been planting parsley for them ever since but they never returned, till this year, on the dill. I have plenty of dill and parsley so it's no big deal. Like someone else said, you can get dill at the store, when's the last time you got a butterfly at one. :)
After you raise that first batch, you'll be hooked!
NatureLover, what do you plant for the deer?
I mainly plant flowers but I love parsley in my flower containers. I live in an apartment complex and last spring after I potted up my pansies and parsley, I swear it wasn't even 24 hours before I saw two of those same cats taking my pretty parsley down to a stump:lol: I just let them be...and bought more parsley:lol:
indy_v,
We plant a clover and wheat mix--they love both. The first year we were here, we had problems with them eating the tops out of all the new trees I was planting and any flowers I put too far out in the yard. The food plot has helped a lot in keeping them from doing that--they usually just make a beeline for the plot. If you are planning to try a food plot, the wheat needs to be broadcast and then covered. Then just broadcast the clover on top of the soil without covering it. The wheat pops up pretty fast and serves as a nurse crop for the clover. We love sitting on the front porch and watching them, especially when the does bring their new fawns out.
Niiice. Thanks!
Margocstn,
Are those banana spiders in your pic? The ones with the "skulls" on em? Only thought of them because I ran into the web of a huge banana spider August 15th 2008 and did all kinds of research on it. I was strolling through the garden and knocking down cobwebs, et al. Then I saw this leader line down to one of my Sago Palms, and I waved at it to knock it down. Well, it was stronger than all get out, and in that moment my brain said, "Hmmmm. That's a mighty strong spider web." And my other brain said, "Hmmmmmmm. Wonder what kinda spider made such a strong web like that?" And then my eyes started following the line up to see this beautiful elaborate HUGE spider web right over my head with the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life!" Fortunately I had approached the web from the underside. It was actually stretched over a walkway I usually take back to the patio. Had I come from that side, I'da walked straight into the web, never seeing it at all. And those Banana Spiders can move with lightening speed, too!
I'da been bitten for sure!
But, I have come to learn to reside in peaceful coexistence with the backyard wildlife, including the insects and crawlies. The web was in a great spot, and I could observe the activity from the comfort of a room inside the house. Until the day the DH found it and tore it down...
HE has not learned to live in peaceful coexistence with any life...
Linda
You'd have been bitten for sure? I beg to disagree. Birds eat spiders, and very few critters on Earth have no fear. Rhinoseroses and Elephants come to mind.
I bet the spider would have run away. But no debate, just my thoughts. I missed running face on into one, too. I mean, I was walking through the woods and looked up about five inches before hitting the big girl with my nose. The boys are tiny, they don't have much to do in comparison to laying eggs.
But if you trapped the spider between yourself and the web, that might be difference. Defense, you know.
Owell, best to leave spiders to do what they do best. (Scare people?)
Exhausting, I need to find out everything!
There's a Yellow Banana Spider, here, and in Florida and other warm places. Not a bad guy. There's a Brazilian Wandering Spider that's also called a Banana Spider, and that one is really poisonous. But it's squat and black. Banana Spider and a freelance writer's ignorance: (see the reply)
http://www.yachikaverma.com/deadly-banana-spider#more-117
And, the Dangerous Guy:
http://www.zimbio.com/Brown+recluse+spiders/articles/27/Brazilian+Wandering+Spider
Sorry I don't have photos to post, I guess I could have stolen some. The Brazilian spider is brown and fuzzy.
The spiders were so tiny I did not see the color until I enhanced the photo. They dissapeared the next day and I havn't seen any larger ones building webs. We have a lot of those around though. I just leave them be, I like spiders and have never been bitten in spite of having spiders all over my yard.
My catapillars have turned into crysyllis's. Hopefully I can get a few pics of them coming out as butterflies.
dill are one of the host plants for the BTS.. which you are quite fortunate to have as they are rare.. please don't kill them!!! If you want more dill just plant more as it grows fast.
Margocstn ~ did you collect the cats? Or did you find where they chose to spin their chrysallis?
I put the catapillars in a little terrarium thingie I had. One hatched into a butterfly today!!! Wierd though, the first one that turned didn't hatch yet. One catapillar died. We let the butterfly go.
