I think ladybugs lay eggs mostly on leaves and stems where there is food for their larvae. Maybe they didn't like the smell of the detergent. Watch that you don't add too may salts to the soil with your dishwater.

I let some of my turnips and kohlrabi flower to attract bees to pollinate fruit trees. Later, I got volunteer turnips in the garden.

Hi,
Yes, I must say, there were more bees by far than last year.

I'm a little unclear on "salts" from dishwater. What do you mean?

I've decided I can't put the dishwater anywhere near the ladybugs. So I'm using it to water my... do you happen to know the name of that plant that looks like very tall celery and attracts the huge yellow and black butterflies?

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

Some detergents contain sodium salts. And there could be some traces of table salt from cooking.

The tall plant which attracts butterflies is probably fennel, which attracts several species of butterfly in the Black Swallowtail family.

Sodium salts from dishwater may or may not be a problem for you, depending on your soil. Watch for yellowing, stunted plants or brown edges. If you are going to put dishwater on anything, common fennel is a good choice - tough. The rinse water from doing dishes should be pretty safe anywhere.

If you eat the leaves of the fennel, watch out that you don't eat caterpillars with it. See the link for photos of Anise Swallowtail caterpillars on fennel. I prefer bronze fennel so that the caterpillars stand out like little jewels on the plant. You might also get Giant Swallowtails in your area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anise swallowtail on fennel

Hi Carolyn,

I wondered if you meant table salt. I hardly use any. Except when I have corn on the cob.

I once read that rosemary likes salt... so I tend to put water containing salt near my rosemary.

The caterpillar on the bottom, the really fat one, looks a lot like the caterpillars from these butterflies.

But the plant isn't fennel. It really does have leaves that look like celery.

I think you can use it for a celery flavor, but it isn't recommended for eating... So I don't use it. I just have it for the butterflies.

Thanks so much for posting the caterpillar pictures. That was great!!!!

:)

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

These butterflies also eat celery, wild celery, chervil, cow parsnip, parsley, carrots, dill and other members of the carrot family. These plants all have small flowers in umbels and also attract beneficial insects like ladybugs and wasps when in bloom. I'm not sure what your plant is, if you know that it is not recommended for eating.

Rosemary may tolerate salt better than some plants, but I doubt that it needs salt in Western soils. Celery has a lot of salt in it naturally, too, compared with other vegetables. Before diuretics, people on extremely low-sodium diets couldn't eat celery.

The salts in some detergents which I had in mind are primarily sodium salts of fatty acids. Insecticidal soap has potassium salts of fatty acids, and the potassium can be more readily used by plants. In many places, the sodium in dishwater would not be a problem. But if you already live where there is saline soil, I would be careful.

Hi Carolyn,
Gosh, what interesting information. I did not know that about celery and salt. I have always loved celery, and I ... let me see, how to say this, in homeopathy, my personal remedy is nat mur, which as I understand it is salt. I believe that means that I tend to need salt if my body is out of balance.

I've also been thinking about salts in detergent, the way you wrote.

I noticed that the plants I'm trying to find out the name of, are turning yellow. So maybe it's from the water with dishwashing liquid in it.

I have been looking for a picture of that plant on the net without success. I was thinking that maybe it's celeraic...

It's a herb. I'm sure I got it at a nursery that carries a variety of herbs.

I have this brain damage that makes it hard to remember certain types of things, or sometimes I get confused about them.

See, I think I read that you can flavor with it, use it as a flavoring, but that if you eat it, the way you would eat celery or green beans, that then there is something in it that is not beneficial.

I'm sure it's a plant that's a "herb" and used for a celery flavoring.

When I purchased it, I had no idea that the plant was going to grow over 6 feet tall. (Yes it has umbel flowers)

Maybe it's languishing because I added peat moss to the soil here, whereas at my other house I just stuck it in the earth with a bit of compost mixed in....

Thank you so much for all your interesting information.

:)

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

I found this description of Lovage, which bares some resemblence to what you have described:

Lovage (Levisticum officinale)
This handsome plant may grow to 6 feet and its leaves resemble those of celery. The flavor is similar to, but stronger than, that of celery. Use leaves sparingly to flavor soups and eat young leaves as a vegetable.

I also found indication that this is a good butterfly plant.... especially for Black Swallowtail and Anise Swallowtail butterflies

Here is a link that might be useful: picture

Hi divaqs,
Those are definitely the leaves! And the description sounds exact.

And the Swallowtails are the ones that love it, or, their spectacular caterpillars.

The name does not sound familiar, but I think that's just because of my cognitive dysfunction.

I've saved the picture to my favorites, so that I can go back to it.

Whew, it's been so long that I've been wanting to know this.
Thank you!!!!!

Could you tell me how you found it? Or did you know, and you just verified what you thought?

I don't know what process I should have used to find it.

http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com/Fingernails.html
Your fingernails reflect your health --
Learn what warning signs to look for --
Karen Kline

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

Hi ConsiderThis,

I found it via a search on google for "celery flavor" and "6 feet". About the 5th item on the results page took me to the description I quoted.

It looks like something worth growing in my yard. :)

Before people planted things like celery, carrots and fennel in the West, one of the main food sources for Anise Swallowtail butterflies was cow parsnip. I understand that it can also get really tall. But if you bought your plant as an herb, it is probably lovage.

You can expect nearly all of the plants in this family to turn yellow and die back after they flower. So, detergent water might not be the cause. Some are annuals and need to be planted every year, some are biennials, flowering the second year, and a few are perennials. If you have more than one generation of swallowtail caterpillars per year in your area, you could plant some carrots or dill as an alternate food source later in the season.

Celeriac is like celery, but has a big, edible root. It's usually much less than 6 feet tall. It is supposed to be easier to grow than celery, but needs a long season for a big root.

Hi divaqs,
Your home looks tranquil and lovely.

Thank you for telling me how you searched. I spent nearly an hour searching, but I didn't go about it as well as you did. So I was looking 6 pages deep, and remaining confused.

Thank you sooo much.

Exercise improves mind function, so I'm hopeful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

It just told me that if I wanted to submit another message to change the subject line. I hope there aren't two essentially the same messages....

Hi Carolyn,
Yes, I'm pretty sure it's lovage.
My plants at my other house were 6 feet tall, but these plants, (shoots from around the other plants) are barely 3 feet tall, and they haven't flowered yet.

It could be that I'm not watering them enough, because I carry the water out because it's at the side of my house.

Some days I'm still not very well and my muscles tighten up too much again.

Thank you sooo much.

I'm delighted to know the name of the plant. Lovage sounds like something I would buy. I'm pretty sure I didn't have any idea what it would look like, and I know I didn't know it would attract the butterflies that it did.

I discovered that it attracted them after I had it.

Thank you again :)

I'm going to go check out your page :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Health-Boundaries-Bite

It's really lonely in my garden now that the ladybirds have eaten all the aphids and left (presumably for blacker pastures -- given that the aphids were black)

And being lonely, I'm more aware of my "situation,"

at wit's end, as they say.

My condo bedroom was built over part of an old privy pit (raw sewage).

I am sure that if people were concerned, not just for me but for what this means for everyone, that something would be done.

Please look at my web page,

and pass this on if you think it's worth thinking about.
(maybe post it or email it... what is that Dr. Seuss book where all it takes is for everyone, even the most little, to think about something...???)

Here is a link that might be useful: at wit's end