A BIG Congratulations, Martha!

The only black swallowtails I've seen this spring are the ones that overwintered in the outside butterfly enclosure. Once released, they just took off without a backward glance. You would think, as a thank you, one would have come back later and left me some eggs but not a one so far.:-)

Mary

Mary, they're rude to me, too! After rescuing some this spring from dill plants in a nursery - somebody else might squish them - they flew off, never to be seen or heard from again - ungrateful children!

Congratulations, Martha! I know you'll really enjoy raising them!

Sherry

I forgot to put a smiley face on my post, so you'd know I was just joking - I love my 'children'!

Wouldn't you know it. Just after I typed that they'd disappeared, I went out to the garden to do some work. I found five black swallowtail eggs, three on rue and two on the dill that I bought with the cats already on it. I planted the plants underneath shrubs in my garden, hoping that the shade will allow them to live over the summer - 'so far, they're doing okay.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to have black swallowtail eggs!

Sherry

Alright Martha!!!! Enjoy your BST experience!

I can still picture myself pulling out all the fennel last fall because I thought it was an annual. :(

when the one I missed came back, I realized my Butterfly Garden Boo Boo.

I replanted in two sections this year. The fennel definitely grows better in partial shade.

we'll see if mine gets big enough for anyone to notice. Until then, have fun for me, Tony

I did a 'walk about' in my yard an hour or so ago and saw not the first egg or cat. :(

I did spot what may be a reason for nothing on the fennel. A small praying mantis.

Still no eggs/cats on the milkweed. Saw lots of Great Spangled Fritillaries having dinner on the blooms, though! :)

I saw a Tiger Swallowtail flying around on the way home from church this morning, but none in my garden, yet. I think they are waiting for the butterfly bushes to start blooming. Some GSFs and a tiny brown butterfly I couldn't get close enough to for ID nectaring on my purple coneflower.

DH is not happy that I'm letting lots of volunteer Queen Ann's Lace grow in the circle garden. He calls it chigger weed and says I should pull it up. I say no because I read that butterflies lay their eggs on it. He humors me. He's a good Hubby.

I'm getting restless, though. I want more butterflies!

Betty

Just an update. It appears that all the eggs have hatched and are munching happily on fennel and Golden Alexander. I had a total of 9 eggs, but I haven't taken the trouble to carefully count caterpillars. I'm just going to keep adding fresh leaves until they're large enough to see better with my old eyes. I'm strongly considering purchasing a magnifying glass and light so I can watch them munch at earlier instars. Such fun! Hope all of you find eggs and cats soon.

Martha

Congrats, Martha, and yes, I found the first BST hatchlings from this little group today on both the rue and dill. I brought them all in, including this one, which is one some rue right next to a giant swallowtail egg. There are two other swallowtail eggs on this piece of rue that I brought in - one more GST and one more BST -
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Sherry

WOW Sherry....GREAT shot there!! Congrats to you Martha! I also love raising the Black Swallowtails. I just found 6 cats on my fennel. They are in the rearing tent now. ;O)

I'm a bit disappointed in my Rue. I have 5 different plants scattered around the yard, and the biggest one has produced multiple seedlings this year. However, I have yet to see a Giant Swallowtail in my yard, or any eggs. I don't even know if I'd recognize a GST if it landed on my head. I will be patient, though. I know these things take time.

Martha

Martha, Congrats on the BST eggs! I'm raising some cats right now and one just pupated the other day. I was to Walmart yesterday and I just had to buy a parsley plant that had four cats on it. I gingerly walked to the checkout because I didn't want to jostle the cats off of the plant. I asked her to be careful with the plant when she went to take it from me to scan it. I was going to take it back from her to carry it to the car when she was done but before I could grab it, she started to put it in a bag. Oh, horrors! I practically yelped for fear of her knocking them off of the plant. "Please give it to me, that has caterpillars on it!" Ha, that poor checkout girl probably thought, "Oh, the kooks I get in here!" LOL I took it from her and actually, she seemed interested to learn that they were Black Swallowtail caterpillars and that they'll turn into a butterfly. I think the people behind me were also listening. :) I also showed them to the person who loaded my peat moss in the car. She said, "Oh, aren't they adorable!" I told her about my butterfly raising and she said that it's something her daughter would probably enjoy doing. I told her to keep an eye on their parsley and dill plants and she might find some on them.

Hehehe! That's where I got my first batch this year,Cathy - from dill that I bought at a nursery. The hatchlings I'm raising now, I got naturally.
Congrats on your BSTs!
Sherry

Congrats, everyone! Haven't found any eggs so far, but have found 3 caterpillars. There were four, but one disappeared, so I brought the others in--one on Rue, and two on fennel.

Sandy