Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Caterpillars and Butterflies
The Black Swallowtail caterpillars have been feasting on the rue and bronze fennel off and on all summer. So how come I never see an adult Black Swallowtail? Last weekend, I noticed three different instars of Black Swallowtail caterpillars on one rue plant. (The photo of the earliest instar was out of focus, so I didn't post it.) Up until last weekend, I believed that if you plant fennel, they'll leave your parsley alone, and if you plant rue, they'll leave your fennel alone. That theory was proved false when I found them feeding on all 3 plants. Not so much on the parsley though. Which is good, because I planned a big batch of Deborah Madison's Salsa Verde while the parsley is plentiful.
Weekend before last, I saw a flutter of black wings, and thought, aha - a Black Swallowtail. Well, no, it was a swallowtail, and it was black, but not a Black Swallowtail. A Pipevine Swallowtail instead. I wonder if we have pipevines growing nearby - I've not seen any.
I expected that the Monarchs had all gone south by now, but this one brightened up the garden last Thursday. Must have been confused by the weather. Speaking of, it finally rained yesterday and I'm looking at a wall of green in the woods as I type this. Not much fall color yet, and the rain really revived the weary plants.
Labels: butterflies, fennel, parsley, rue
12 Comments:
Wow, those pictures are wonderful. I can never get butterflies to stay still long enough to get shots like that--you must have the touch. I just scare them. :)
The rue is very pretty, btw. I winter sowed some this year but I never figured out where to put them. And so they still sit in their WS pots... oops. :(
Blackswamp Girl: The pipevine swallowtail was very fluttery - I took about 30 shots of it and got maybe 3 good ones. The monarch, OTOH, was serene and sedate.
This is the first year I grew rue (gruru?), but so far I like it a lot. I'd hate to say what became of some of my winter-sown plants but not all of them found good homes.
Oh and I almost forgot (re: your creeping rosemary) - I found one tiny rosemary flower this week. I could have sworn they always bloomed late winter/early spring for me.
I don't think I've ever seen a pipevine swallowtail before. Pretty neat that you were able to identify it quickly.
We saw a Monarch yesterday but it was flying north! Turn around! Maybe it was confused by the winds from the south.
BTW, I saw an incredible sight, a strawberry bush with hundreds of fruit at Layanee's Ledge and Gardens Oct. 10th post.
After seeing that display, I will definitely have to try to obtain the plant.
Ki: And to think I was going to plant pipevines to attract the Pipevine Swallowtail. I still may. I almost always use Jeffrey Glassberg's Butterflies Through Binoculars for butterfly ID. I only wish there was one just like it for caterpillars.
I just looked at Layanee's post, and the shrub is really a beauty, but I need to study this a bit further. The fruits don't look quite like the E. americanus that I have or that I've seen growing wild. I wonder if there is more than one native Euonymus? Hers is better, BTW. I'll see what I can find out.
Ki: I wonder if the photo on Layanee's blog is of Euonymus atropurpureus? It looks as though that one may be a species more common in northern areas and E. americanus more common in southern areas.
Nice work - the last shot is so special.
Entangled: Hi there! I saw the comment concerning the American strawberry bush which I posted on Oct. 10th. It could be the E. atropurpureus. Have you found anything conclusive on that? I would be interested as I thought the other posts pictures looked a bit different also. I did have one local nurseryman look at the pictures and he thought it was americanus but it looks like further research is necessary and I thank you for your keen eye!
Simply gorgeous photos!! Good capture.
Hi Layanee: I'm not completely sure that your plant is E. atropurpureus, but after looking at some online references I'm pretty sure it's not E. americanus. The thing that tipped me off was that the fruit looks different - the outer covering on yours looks smooth, and on E. americanus it looks prickly. I have a closeup of the fruit posted here.
While searching for information, I found a website of a Euonymus collector in the Netherlands. He has posted a botanical key which indicates one of the distinguishing characteristics of E. americanus is the prickly fruit capsule.
But, all that said, I think I like your plant better - E. americanus is kind of sparse and rangy.
David, and Connie: Thanks! All compliments are gratefully accepted :-)
Hi there,
I just posted our first every "Creature of the Month" awards, and your caterpillar photos won as first runner-up! They're amazing - I love that us gardeners have an eye for things so small. Thanks for sharing their beauty!
Melinda: I'm honored!
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