I have found rue at the nurseries here in Tx, never have seen it at Lowe's or Home Depot. I have had black swallowtails lay eggs on the rue, but their favorite seems to be fennel or dill. They will use any of these as food interchangeably with no problems as well as carrot tops (I grow a plot of carrots just for bst food source). They are supposed to use Queen Anne's Lace as a host, but I have never seen a single egg on QAL. The caterpillars don't seem to much care for that as a food source, either. They will eat it, but only as a last resort.

Rue is supposed to be easy to grow from seed, but I have never had mine go to seed. It has flowered, but I don't see any seeds and never have any volunteers come up. I have managed to keep the few plants I have alive for over 2 years. In years past, it seemed to be an annual, but I planted these in planter pots and move them to the shade when the heat of the summer comes. Good luck!

Mechelle

Dill & fennel seem to be the best BST hosts here in MN. They completely ignore carrot & Queen Anne's lace.
Tucker

Black Swallowtails love dill but it dries up early in the season here, so there would be nothing for them to eat if I didn't have Bronze Fennel and Rue. Of those two, they seem to like the fennel best but it will start to dry up before the season is over also - not nearly as early as dill. Rue outlasts them all. You'll most likely find it for sale with the herbs rather than the other perennials so be sure to look there. If you don't find it, it's pretty easy to grow from seed. I haven't collected any for the last couple years so I don't have any to offer right now but if you're still looking for it later this summer, email me and I will collect some seeds from mine.

I think I have rue seeds, but I agree that dill and fennel are the favorites. I grow rue because I'm hoping for some Giant Swallowtails. It is easy to grow from seed, and mine volunteers generously. Unfortunately, I just sold my house, or I could send you seedlings. If you want seeds, e-mail me.

Martha

I currently have caterpillars on dill and rue. So far this year they have ignored the fennel - (I have regular and bronze) but last year the fennel was a favorite. Right now the dill seems to be the favorite - as there are about 8 caterpillars on it vs one on the rue.

Also I have found that if I plant my dill/fennel in a spot that gets morning sun only it lasts longer. I saw some in an herb garden at Woodward Park in Tulsa last summer (September) that was in a filtered sun (underneath large trees) and it was HUGE and very green and covered in caterpillars. :-) So I think in the south for sure, where we get such long hot summers, you're better off not planting in full sun.

~Laura

I've got rue, smokey bronze fennel, and parseley.

The females seem to prefer laying eggs on fennel. The fennel that gets part sun looks better and gets larger. It also seems to get more eggs.

My best experience raising them though was over winter. A late mama hit my parsley. It was getting too cold for caterpillars so I potted my parsley and raised them in my 3-season porch. It was super easy raising them on the parsley and all 5 of my caterpillars pupated and hatched this spring. If I ever raise them again I will try the same thing! Hope you find everything you're looking for at the plant sale!

I have a rue plant here that I could send you for postage, but it's kind of leggy. I have lots of rue and feed it to the Black Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails.
Cathy

Tony, that seems like a cool thing to do with the parsley and the late season cats!

In my experience, Ruta graveolens is easy to start from seed. I got the seeds from you Caterwallin, winter-sowed them last year, and have 7 good sized plants. They are about 10-12 inches tall now and bushy, I just transplanted them around, and they seem quite resilient and didn't miss a beat. They did not bloom the first year but will probably bloom this year. Last year I found one cat on the Rue.

I also grow Dill, Bronze fennel, Parsley, Zizia aurea and Z. aptera. The Black Swallowtails have laid eggs on all of these except for the Zizia species. They don't seem to prefer it as a host plant but the cats have accepted it as larval food without problem, and it makes a great backup because the leaves are beefier.

I had 2 Black Swallowtails emerge this week from chrysalises, 1 male and 1 female, but haven't found any eggs in the gardens yet.

Terene, I'm glad to hear that your rue plants are doing well. I always have good luck with mine and get pretty many cats on mine (BST and GST). I have my rue out in full sun and it does well here in PA. I keep it deadheaded or I'd be pulling out pretty many volunteers.
Congrats on your BST eclosures! All that I'm raising right now is one BST, two Wild Indigo Duskywings, and one Clouded Sulphur.
Cathy

I still haven't attracted any bst. Is there a certain place the female like the plants to be? Like I have a open patio area where I have plants. I have parsley in longways planters and dill in a hanging basket. I have only seen bst on plants in the ground. Do they always have to be large plants? I have small plants of each but planted together. I have seen bst flying around so maybe I will get a few.
I had 9 monarchs emerge this morning and got to see them. Such an amazing thing to watch. Been watching females laying more eggs. Ready for the next batch.