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.